THE 

ADMINISTRATION 

OF    IRELAND, 

1920. 


THE 
ADMINISTRATION 
OF  IRELAND,  1920. 

BY 

"I.O." 


NEW    YORK: 

E.    P.    BUTTON    &    CO. 


192ICL 


PREFACE. 


Those  who  set  out  to  find  in  these  pages  a 
sensational  account  of  the  happenings  in  Ireland 
during  the  past  year,  a  vigorous  if  picturesque 
description  of  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  people  or 
administration,  will  be  disappointed.  Sensational, 
unfortunately,  many  of  the  incidents  described 
herein  undoubtedly  are  ;  but  of  eulogy,  condem- 
nation, support,  I  have  endeavoured  to  steer 
clear.  Such  comment  as  I  have  allowed  myself 
to  make  is  solely  for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing 
an  important  point,  of  making-  clear  a  moral  of 
consequence.  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  written  a 
history  ;  my  endeavour  throughout  has  been  to 
place  before  both  general  reader  and  historian 
such  material,  authentic  and  ungarbled,  as  will 
enable  them  to  form  trustworthy  opinions. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  take  this  oppor- 
tunity of  tendering  my  sincere  gratitude  to  all 
those  who  have  helped  me  in  my  task,  and  to 
those  of  whose  labour  and  research  I  have  so 
copiously  availed  myself. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I.  Page 

From  the  Outbreak   of   the   War,   to 

the  Easter  RebelHon,  1916  -  1 

CHAPTER    II. 

From  the  RebelUon  to  the  end  of  1919        43 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  First  Six  Months  of  1920  -         69 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Latter  Half  of  1920        -  -         96 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Same  (continued)  -  -       129 

CHAPTER    VI. 

The  Forces  of  the  Republic  -       162 

CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Arming  of  the  Republic  -       186 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  Campaign  of  Outrage     -  -       210 

CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Troops  and  the  Railway  Situation       238 

CHAPTER    X. 

The  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  -       269 


CONTENTS  (continued). 

CHAPTER   XI.  Page 

The  Question  of  Reprisals      -  -       299 

CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Question  of  Ulster  -  -       326 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Ireland  and  America  -  -       354 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  Policy  of  the  Government  -       385 


APPENDIX   A. 

The  Government  of  Ireland  Act,  1920       432 

APPENDIX    B. 

Mulcahy's  Memoranda  -  -      442 

APPENDIX   C. 

The  Treatment  of  Prisoners  -       448 

APPENDIX    D. 

The  Organization  of  Sinn  Fein  -      453 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Although  the  object  of  this  book  is,  as  its  title 
indicates,  to  give  some  account  of  the  state  of 
Ireland  during  the  year  1920,  and  of  the 
problems  that  confronted  the  Administration  of 
the  country  during  that  period,  it  is  necessary  to 
examine  briefly  the  course  of  events  which  led 
up.  to  the  situation  then  existing.  For  this 
purpose  there  is  no  need  to  go  back  earlier  than 
the  outbreak  of  war  in  1914,  for  this  event 
occurred  at  a  very  critical  period  in  Irish  affairs, 
and  may  be  said  to  mark  the  end  of  one  phase 
of  the  Irish  question  and  the  beginning  of 
the  next.  The  declaration  of  war  came  at 
a  time  when  the  Ulster  Volunteers  and 
the  National  Volunteers  were  confronting  one 
another,  prepared  to  fight  upon  the  question  of 
Home  Rule.  Both  sides  had  prepared  for  the 
conflict  by  importing  arms  and  distributing 
them  to  their  followers.  Gun-running  on  behalf 
of  the  Ulster  Volunteers  took  place  on  a  large 
scale  on  April  24th  and  25th,  1914,  at  Larne 
and  other  ports  in  Ulster.      Similar  operations 

B 


2      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

were  carried  out  by  the  National  Volunteers  at 
Howth,  on  July  26th,  and  at  Kilkool,  County 
Wexford,  on  August  1st.  It  seemed  as  though 
nothing  could  restrain  the  opposing  forces  from 
flying  at  one  anothers'  throats,  as  soon  as  their 
leaders  had  secured  the  necessary  munitions  for 
the  purpose. 

About  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  war  the 
Ulster  Volunteer  Force  was  about  85,000  strong, 
and  was  believed  to  have  in  its  possession  some 
53,000  rifles.  Towards  the  end  of  September, 
1914,  the  strength  of  the  National  Volunteers 
was  about  181,000,  but  on  10th  December  of  the 
same  year  it  was  estimated  that  the  rifles  in 
their  possession  only  numbered  some  9,000, 
with  very  little  ammunition. 

The  war  affected  these  two  forces  very 
differently.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  European 
War  at  the  beginning  of  August  there  was  a 
notable  relaxation  of  the  political  tension  in 
Ulster,  and  a  considerable  suspension  of  active 
military  preparations  on  the  part  of  the  Ulster 
Volunteers;  though  before  the  month  was  past 
about  1,400  rifles  and  a  large  quantity  of 
ammunition  were  landed  at  Belfast  for  their  use. 

All  classes  displayed  a  strong  patriotic  and 
anti-German  feeling,  and  joined,  irrespective  of 
creed  and  politics,  in  giving  a  hearty  send-off 
to  reservists  and  recruits  when  leaving  to  join 
the  Army.  Nevertheless  considerable  unrest 
prevailed  alike  in  the  Unionist  and  Nationalist 
ranks  as  to  the  action  which  the  Government 
would  take  with  regard  to  the  Home  Rule  Bill. 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

The  anniversary  of  the  Relief  of  Derry,  on  the 
12th  of  August,  passed  off  without  disturbance, 
picquets  of  both  Volunteer  Forces  being  posted  to 
assist  in  preserving  order. 

During  September  the  Ulster  Volunteers 
continued  to  drill,  but  less  enthusiasm  was 
shown,  a  large  number  of  the  officers  and 
instructors  who  were  reservists  having  joined 
their  regiments  and  gone  to  the  war. 

The  signing  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  on 
the  8th  September  also  passed  off  without  any 
disturbance,  but  there  was  a  very  bitter  feeling 
on  the  part  of  the  Unionists  against  the 
Government  and  against  His  Majesty  for 
signing  it.  This  was  shov^m  by  the  disrespect 
with  which  His  Majesty's  picture  was  greeted  at 
cinema  houses,  and  by  the  action  of  members  of 
the  congregation  at  several  Protestant  churches 
in  walking  out  during  Divine  Service  when  the 
National  Anthem  was  being  sung. 

The  Ulster  Unionist  Council  met  on  three 
occasions  during  this  month. 

On  Sunday,  the  27th  September,  there  was  a 
large  turn-out  of  Ulster  Volunteers  at  the  various 
churches  and  halls  in  Belfast  and  elsewhere,  it 
being  the  anniversary  of  '*  Covenant  Day,"  and 
on  the  following  day  a  large  public  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Ulster  Hall' at  which  speeches  were 
delivered  by  Sir  Edward  Carson,  M.P.,  Mr. 
Bonar  Law,  M.P.,  and  others.  On  the  return 
of  the  speakers  from  the  meeting  5,000  armed 
Ulster  Volunteers  lined  the  streets. 

During  the  remaining  months  of  the  year  the 


4      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

movement  in  opposition  to  Home  Rule  became 
gradually  less  acute,  but  this  should  be  attributed 
to  the  War  and  not  to  any  abatement  of  their 
opposition  to  Home  Rule  on  the  part  of  the 
northern  Unionists.  At  the  same  time  whilst 
open  displays  in  the  way  of  parades  became  less 
frequent,  the  organisation  was  well  maintained. 

Before  the  outbreak  of  the  War  the  Ulster 
Volunteer  Force  was,  as  we  have  said,  nearly 
85,000  strong.  Up  to  the  end  of  September 
about  12,000  had  joined  the  Army  either  as 
reservists  or  on  enlistment.  To  fill  up  the 
vacancies  thus  created  recruiting  for  the  Force 
was  re-opened. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  War  Mr.  Redmond 
undertook  in  Parliament,  on  behalf  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  that  they,  in  union  with  the  Ulster 
Volunteers,  would  defend  the  shores  of  Ireland 
from  the  enemy.  His  announcement  was  accepted 
with  approval  not  only  by  the  vast  bulk  of  the 
Irish  Nationalists  but  also  by  many  prominent 
Unionists,  who  had  nothing  in  common  with  his 
political  views.  On  16th  of  September,  Mr. 
Redmond  issued  a  Manifesto  calling  upon  the 
people  of  Ireland  to  take  their  part  in  the  great 
national  crisis,  and  asking  that  Irish  recruits 
for  the  Expeditionary  Force  should  be  kept 
together  in  an  Irish  Brigade  under  the  command 
of  Irish  Officers.  Later  on  at  the  meeting  in 
the  Mansion  House,  Dublin,  on  the  25th 
September,  which  was  addressed  by  the  Prime 
Minister,  Mr.  Redmond  spoke  strongly  in  favour 
of  recruiting. 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

Although  there  was  no  outward  manifestation 
of  dis-union  in  the  new  Committee  of  the 
Volunteers,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
members  of  the  original  Provisional  Committee 
who  belonged  to  anti-British  Associations  not 
only  dissented  from  Mr,  Redmond's  pronounce- 
ment on  the  War  and  in  support  of  recruiting, 
but  were  determined  to  thwart  his  efforts  in  every 
way.  On  the  eve  of  the  meeting  at  the  Mansion 
House  in  furtherance  of  recruiting,  a  manifesto 
was  issued,  signed  by  the  members  of  the  original 
Provisional  Committee,  as  follows  : — 

"  Ten  months  ago  a  Provisional  Committee 
commenced  the  Irish  Volunteer  movement  with 
the  sole  purpose  of  securing  and  defending  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  Irish  people.  The 
movement  on  these  lines,  though  thwarted  and 
opposed  for  a  time,  obtained  the  support  of  the 
Irish  nation.  When  the  Volunteer  movement 
had  become  the  main  factor  in  the  national 
position,  Mr.  Redmond  decided  to  acknowledge 
it,  and  to  endeavour  to  bring  it  under  his  control. 

*'  Three  months  ago  he  put  forward  the  claim 
to  send  twenty -five  nominees  to  the  Provisional 
Committee  of  the  Irish  Volunteers.  He 
threatened,  if  the  claim  was  not  conceded,  to 
proceed  to  the  dismemberment  of  the  Irish 
Volunteer  organisation. 

"It  is  clear  that  this  proposal  to  throw  the 
country  into  turmoil  and  to  destroy  the  chances 
of  a  Home  Rule  measure  in  the  near  future  must 
have  been  forced  upon  Mr.  Redmond.     Already 


6      ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

ignoring  the  Irish  Volunteers  as  a  factor  in  the 
national  position,  Mr.  Redmond  had  consented 
to  a  dismemberment  of  Ireland  which  could  be 
made  permanent  by  the  same  agencies  that  forced 
him  to  accept  it  as  temporary.  He  was  now 
prepared  to  risk  another  disruption,  and  the 
WTeck  of  the  cause  entrusted  to  him. 

"  The  Provisional  Committee,  while  recognis- 
ing that  the  responsibility  in  that  case  would  be 
entirely  Mr.  Redmond's,  decided  to  risk  the 
lesser  evil,  and  to  admit  his  nominees  to  sit  and 
act  on  the  Committee.  The  Committee  made  no 
representations  as  to  the  persons  to  be  nominated, 
and  when  the  nominations  were  received,  the 
Committee  raised  no  question  as  to  how  far  Mr. 
Redmond  had  fulfilled  his  public  undertaking  to 
nominate  '  representative  men  from  different 
parts  of  the  country.'  Mr.  Redmond's  nominees 
were  admitted  purely  and  simply  as  his  nominees, 
and  without  co-option. 

"  Mr.  Redmond,  addressing  a  body  of  Irish 
Volunteers  on  last  Sunday,  has  now  announced 
for  the  Irish  Volunteers  a  policy  and  programme 
fundamentally  at  variance  with  their  own 
published  and  accepted  aims  and  pledges,  but 
with  which  his  nominees  are,  of  course, 
identified.  He  has  declared  it  to  be  the  duty  of 
the  Irish  Volunteers  to  take  foreign  service  under 
a  Government  which  is  not  Irish.  He  has 
made  this  announcement  without  consulting  the 
Provisional  Committee,  the  Volunteers  them- 
selves, or  the  people  of  Ireland  to  whose  service 
alone  they  are  devoted. 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

"  Having  thus  disregarded  the  Irish 
Volunteers  and  their  solemn  engagement,  Mr. 
Redmond  is  no  longer  entitled,  through  his 
nominees,  to  any  place  in  the  administration  and 
guidance  of  the  Irish  Volunteer  organisation. 
Those  who,  by  virtue  of  Mr.  Redmond's 
nomination,  have  heretofore  been  admitted  to 
act  on  the  Provisional  Committee,  accordingly 
cease  henceforth  to  belong  to  that  body,  and  from 
this  date  until  the  holding  of  an  Irish  Volunteer 
Convention  the  Provisional  Committee  consists 
of  those  only  v^^hom  it  comprised  before  the 
admission  of  Mr.  Redmond's  nominees. 

"  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Provisional 
Committee  we  shall  propose  :  — 

1.  To  call  a  convention  of  Irish 
Volunteers  for  Wednesday,  25th  November, 
1914,  the  anniversary  of  the  inaugural 
meeting  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  in  Dublin. 

2.  To  re-affirm  without  qualification  the 
Manifesto  proposed  and  adopted  at  the 
inaugural  meeting. 

3.  To  oppose  any  diminution  of  the 
measure  of  Irish  self-government  which 
now  exists  as  a  Statute  on  paper,  and  which 
would  not  now  have  reached  that  stage  but 
for  the  Irish  Volunteers. 

4.  To  repudiate  any  undertaking,  by 
whomsoever  given,  to  consent  to  the 
legislative  dismemberment  of  Ireland;  and 
to  protest  against  the  attitude  of  the  present 
Government,  who,  under  the  pretence  that 
'  Ulster  cannot  be  coerced, '  avow  themselves 


8      ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

prepared  to  coerce  the  Nationalists  of  Ulster. 

5.  To  declare  that  Ireland  cannot,  with 
honour  or  safety,  take  part  in  foreign 
quarrels  otherwise  than  through  the  free 
action  of  a  National  Government  of  her 
own ;  and  to  repudiate  the  claim  of  any  man 
to  offer  up  the  blood  and  lives  of  the  sons  of 
Irishmen  and  Irishwomen  to  the  service 
of  the  British  Empire,  while  no  National 
Government  which  could  speak  and  act  for 
the  people  of  Ireland  is  allowed  to  exist. 

6.  To  demand  that  the  present  system 
of  governing  Ireland  through  Dublin  Castle 
and  the  British  military  power,  a  system 
responsible  for  the  recent  outrages  in 
Dublin,  be  abolished  without  delay,  and 
that  a  National  Government  be  forthwith 
established  in  its  place." 

This  Manifesto  was  published  in  the  issue  of 
The  Irish  Volunteer*  of  3rd  October,  1914,  the 
organ  of  the  disloyal  section,  under  the  following 
heading : — 

A  STRAIGHT   ISSUE. 

FOR    IRELAND     OR    THE    BRITISH    EMPIRE? 
WORK  ENOUGH  IN   IRELAND. 

And    it    was    openly    acknowledged    that    the 
Manifesto  was  issued  because  an  attempt  was 

*  A  monthly  journal,  the  oflBcial  organ  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers.    It  subsequently  became  An  T'Oglac. 


INTRODUCTORY,  9 

being  made  to  identify  the  Volunteers  with  the 
recruiting  meeting  held  in  the  Mansion  House  on 
September  25th. 

In  a  strongly  worded  leading  article  of  this 
issue,  the  people  of  Ireland  are  reminded  of 
*'  the  traditions  of  centuries  of  fighting  against 
England,"  and  are  called  upon  to  refrain  from 
joining  the  Army  or  from  being  "  led  to  the 
foreigner  that  English  trade  may  flourish  and 
England's  arms  dominate  the  world." 

A  Convention  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  was  held 
in  the  Abbey  Theatre,  Dublin,  on  Sunday,  25th 
October,  which  was  attended  by  a  number  of 
delegates  of  dubious  character  from  various  parts 
of  the  country.  Mr.  John  McNeill  presided, 
and,  in  the  course  of  a  lengthened  address, 
referred  to  Mr.  Redmond's  attitude  on  the 
question  of  Irishmen  joining  the  Army  for 
service  with  the  Allies.  He  then  proposed  the 
following  Declaration  of  Policy  for  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  which  was  in  due  course  adopted  : — 

"DECLARATION  OF  POLICY. 

1.  To  maintain  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
Irish  Nation  henceforward  to  provide  for  its  own 
defence  by  means  of  a  permanent  armed  and 
trained  Volunteer  Force. 

2.  To  unite  the  people  of  Ireland  on  the  basis 
•of  Irish  Nationality  and  a  common  national 
interest ;  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  nation, 
cand  to  resist  with  all  our  strength  any  measures 


10     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

tending  to  bring  about  or  perpetuate  disunion  or 
the  partition  of  our  country. 

3.  To  resist  any  attempt  to  force  the  men 
of  Ireland  into  military  service  under  any 
Government  until  a  free  National  Government 
of  Ireland  is  empowered  by  the  Irish  people 
themselves  to  deal  with  it. 

4.  To  secure  the  abolition  of  the  system  of 
governing  Ireland  through  Dublin  Castle  and  the 
British  Military  power,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  National  Government  in  its  place." 

Apart  from  the  question  of  recruiting  for 
the  Imperial  Army,  the  columns  of  The  Irish 
Volunteer  contained  from  week  to  week,  articles 
and  letters  of  an  extremely  disloyal  and  seditious 
character  in  which  national  independence  and 
complete  separation  from  the  Empire  were  put 
forward  as  the  ultimate  aim  not  only  of  the 
Irish  Volunteers  but  of  their  supporters  and 
sympathisers  on  whose  behalf  the  writers  claimed 
to  have  a  right  to  speak.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  an  article  in  the  issue  of  the  10th 
October,  headed, 

' '  Who  are  the  Cowards  ?  ' ' 

*'  Ireland's  national  individuality,  Ireland's 
national  Soul,  demands  that  Ireland  should  take 
no  part,  either  through  its  leaders  or  through  its 
masses,  in  promoting  this  iniquitous  war. 
England,  the  Bully  of  the  Nations,  is  in  a 
difficulty.  It  is  our  duty  to  our  ancestors,  who 
risked  and  lost  their  lives  to  free  Ireland  from 


INTRODUCTORY. 


11 


England,  it  is  our  duty  to  ourselves,  who  live 
under  the  heel  of  the  mass  of  the  same 
hypocritical  powder,  it  is  our  duty,  above  all,  to 
those  who  will  come  after  us  in  the  inheritance 
of  this  land,  to  declare  Ireland's  neutrality;  to 
refuse,  in  the  words  of  the  Volunteers'  Mani- 
festo, any  foreign  service  under  a  Grovernment 
which  is  not  Irish,  and  to  decline  all  part  in 
foreign  quarrels  for  which  the  Irish  people  have 
no  responsibility." 

The  result  of  the  dissensions  in  the  National 
Volunteers  was  to  split  the  force  into  three 
distinct  sections,  namely.  National  Volunteers 
following  Mr.  John  Redmond,  National  Volun- 
teers following  Mr.  John  McNeill,  and  the  Irish 
Volunteers  under  the  influence  of  Sinn  Fein. 
From  the  latter  developed  the  present  Irish 
Republican  Army. 

Figures  of  the  relative  strengths  of  these 
forces  at  various  times,  from  the  cleavage  up  to 
the  Easter  Week  Rebellion  (1916)  are  as  follows  : 


National 

National 

Irish 

Volunteers 

Volunteers    Volunteers 

(Redmond) 

(McNeill) 

1914, 

Oct.  7th 

.       178,649     . 

..     7,443     . 

.     2,150 

1914, 

Dec.  16th 

.       152,090     . 

.  11,247     . 

.     2,100 

1915, 

Mar.  31st      . 

.       135,760     . 

..     9,062     . 

.     2,180 

1915, 

June  30th     . 

.       122,472     . 

.     5,612     . 

.     5,685 

1915, 

Sept.  27th     . 

117,360     . 

..     5,492     . 

.     6,022 

1915, 

Dec.  27tli      . 

.       112,446     . 

..     5,112     . 

.     8,362 

1916, 

mi 

April   17th    . 

.       104,984     . 

..     4,457     . 

T           -It 

.  10,606 

The  figures  of  recruiting  in  Ireland  for  the 
British  Army  during  1915  are  interesting.    They 


12      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

are  here  classified  by  Provinces,    showing  the 
sources  whence  the  recruits  came  : 


National 

Ulster 

Not  known 

Volunteers. 

VolunteerB. 

to  be 

Volunteers. 

Total. 

Ulster 

.     3,471 

8,139 

12,304 

23,914 

Leinster 

.     3,814 

27 

12,333 

16,174 

Munster 

.     2,G02 

4 

6,274 

8,880 

Connaught  .. 

907 

33 

1,233 

2,173 

Totals 

10,794 

8,203 

32,144 

51,141 

In  a  handbook  of  the  Constitution  and  Rules 
published  by  order  of  the  Council  of  Sinn  Fein 
in  October,  1908,  the  object  of  Sinn  Fein 
is  stated  to  be  "  The  establishment  of  the 
Independence  of  Ireland."  The  rules  exclude 
members  of  the  Army  and  Navy  from  member- 
ship. One  of  its  aims  is  "  The  withdrawal  of 
all  voluntary  support  to  the  British  Armed 
Forces,"  and  branches  are  urged  *'  to  do  their 
utmost  by  every  legitimate  means  to  keep  young 
men  from  joining  the  British  Army  and  Navy  or 
Police  forces."  The  class  of  persons  w^ho 
became  Sinn  Feiners  were  such  as  held 
extreme  views  and  disbelieved  in  the  efficacy  of 
Parliamentary  agitation. 

A  campaign  against  recruiting  for  the  British 
Forces  had  been  commenced ;  but  the  society  made 
no  progress  and  had  fallen  into  insignificance 
when  the  Irish  Volunteers  were  formed  in 
November,  1913.  Some  of  the  former  exponents 
of  Sinn  Fein  became  prominent  in  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  and  members  of  the  Irish  Republican 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

Brotherhood  and  extremists  in  the  Gaelic  Athletic 
Association  were  attracted  to  it  by  the 
opportunities  it  afforded  for  drilling  and  being 
openly  trained  in  arms.  About  the  middle  of 
1914  the  movement  was  captured  by  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  Party,  to  counteract  the  hostile 
attitude  of  the  Ulster  Volunteers  towards  Home 
Rule.  The  outbreak  of  the  War,  however, 
caused  a  split  in  the  force.  The  majority  who 
sided  with  Mr.  Redmond's  policy  of  supporting 
the  Empire  became  henceforward  the  National 
Volunteers,  while  the  minority  still  designated 
the  Irish  Volunteers  pursued  the  Sinn  Fein  policy 
under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  John  McNeill.  The 
minority  included  the  more  militant  and  extreme 
members,  many  of  whom  were  already  coiipected 
with  other  disloyal  and  revolutionary  societies. 
The  old  cry  "  England's  difficulty — Ireland's 
opportunity  "  was  then  revived.  Organisers 
were  soon  at  work  forming  new  branches  all  over 
the  country,  promising  an  abundant  supply 
of  arms  from  America;  and  simultaneously  a 
determined  campaign  was  started  to  prevent  men 
joining  the  Army.  As  soon  as  certain  newspapers 
began  to  advocate  compulsory  service,  the 
Sinn  Fein  press  published  seditious  articles  in 
opposition  to  it,  and  the  Irish  Volunteers  pledged 
themselves  to  resist  any  form  of  conscription  by 
force.  By  this  means  members  of  the  farming 
class  and  others  not  hitherto  in  sympathy  with 
the  objects  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  were  induced 
to  join  that  body  with  a  view  to  avoiding 
military  service. 


14     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

The  stronghold  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  was  in 
Dublin,  where,  at  the  beginning  of  1915,  they 
had  a  membership  of  2,100.  Furthermore,  in 
Dublin  the  Irish  Volunteers  associated  them- 
selves with  Larkin's  labour  organisation.  In  the 
provinces  Mr.  McNeill's  followers  numbered 
about  9,000,  but  the  greater  part  of  these 
were  still  nominally  attached  to  the  National 
Volunteers. 

About  this  time  (Spring  1915)  all  the  activities 
of  the  extreme  societies  in  Ireland  were  merged 
in  the  Irish  Volunteers,  which  was  an 
openly  seditious  and  revolutionary  organisation. 
Although  small  in  numbers  compared  with  the 
more  constitutional  body  which  acknowledged 
the  leadership  of  Mr.  John  Redmond,  and  having 
among  its  leaders  practically  no  one  of  any 
influence,  yet  by  its  activity  and  revolutionary 
propaganda  it  soon  gained  an  importance  which 
its  numbers  did  not  warrant. 

As  showing  the  trend  of  the  Irish  Volunteers 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Council  of  that  body  held  on  30th  May,  1915, 
Mr.  McNeill  in  the  chair,  a  resolution  of  the 
Irish  Volunteers  declaring  themselves  in  favour 
of  an  immediate  insurrection  was  proposed  by 
Bulmer  Hobson  and  only  defeated  by  the  casting 
vote  of  Mr.  McNeill. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council  of  the 
Irish  Volunteers  held  in  Dublin  on  the  4th  July, 
1915,  instructions  were  issued  to  County  Boards 
directing  them  to  assist  organisers  in  forming 
new  branches,  and  to  resist  the  Registration  Act 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

• 
should  any  attempt  be  made  to  enforce  it  in 
Ireland.     At  this  meeting  a  simi  of  3,000  dollars 
recently  received  from  America  was  distributed, 
of  which  £40  was  sent  to  Limerick. 

During  the  winter  months  the  Irish  Volunteers 
were  daily  improving  their  organisation.  Some 
drill  was  practised  here  and  there,  but  their 
activities  were  mainly  directed  to  promoting 
sedition  and  hindering  recruiting  for  the 
Army.  As  already  stated  forcible  resistance  to 
conscription  was  also  part  of  their  programme. 
The  prospect  of  compulsory  service  was  generally 
resented,  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Irish 
Volunteers  in  the  matter  naturally  appealed  to 
the  farming  classes  and  others,  who  determined 
to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  every  call  upon  them  to 
enlist. 

In  October  it '  was  reported  that  the  Irish 
Volunteers  had  planned  a  '  *  rising  ' '  in  the  event 
of  conscription  being  introduced  into  Ireland, 
and  this  was  perhaps  the  one  project  in  which 
they  would  find  many  Redmondites  in  agreement 
w4th  them. 

In  February,  1916,  there  were  165  branches  of 
the  Irish  Volunteers  in  the  provinces  with  n 
membership  of  7,615,  which,  with  its  members 
in  Dublin,  brought  up  the  total  membership  to 
close  on  10,000.  The  increase  in  membership 
during  the  month  was  small,  due,  no  doubt,  to 
the  fact  that  conscription  was  no  longer 
imminent,  since  Ireland  had  been  excluded  from 
the  scope  of  the  Military  Service  Bill.  In 
addition  to  the  farming  classes,  a  great  many 


16     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

National  Volunteers  had  joined  the  Sinn  Fein 
corps  in  order  to  fortify  themselves  with  an 
excuse  for  not  joining  the  Army.  The  bait  was 
a  good  one,  but  on  the  omission  of  Ireland  from 
the  scope  of  the  Bill  it  was  no  longer  effective. 

Up  to  the  fourth  week  of  April,  1916,  nothing 
unusual  occurred  to  cause  anxiety  as  to  the 
general  peace  of  Ireland  except  the  continued 
disloyal  and  dangerous  activity  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
movement.  The  Irish  Volunteers  showed  no 
slackening  in  carrying  on  military  exercises  and 
evolutions.  On  Sunday  the  9th  of  April,  how- 
ever, the  Irish  Volunteers  in  Dublin  assembled  in 
Rutland  Square  to  the  number  of  about  13,000, 
and  marched  through  the  City  with  the  recruits 
who  had  joined  during  the  previous  week.  On 
the  same  day  the  police  seized  a  motor-car  in 
College  Green  and  found  that  it  contained  a 
quantity  of  shot-guns,  revolvers,  ammunition, 
etc.,  which  were  being  conveyed  to  Wexford. 
Two  men  in  the  car,  who  were  identified  as  Sinn 
Fein  Volunteers  from  Ferns,  were  afterwards 
sentenced  to  three  months'  imprisonment.  Easter 
parades  were  ordered  throughout  the  country, 
and  this  mobilisation  was  arranged  to  coincide 
with  the  expected  arrival  of  Sir  Roger  Casement 
and  a  ship  laden  with  arms  from  Germany. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  Good  Friday,  April 
21st,  a  Kerry  peasant  walking  along  the  seashore 
at  Banna,  not  far  from  Fenit,  came  upon  an 
empty  collapsible  boat,  and  noticed  the  footprints 
of  three  men  leading  to  the  sandhills.  Later  on 
he    reported    the    matter    to    the    police,    who 


INTRODUCTORY.  17 

discovered  buried  in  the  sand  some  revolvers  and 
a  quantity  of  ammunition.  Subsequently  a  tall 
man  was  observed  near  a  ruin,  who,  when  covered 
by  a  rifle,  told  the  constable  not  to  shoot,  and 
surrendered.  He  gave  an  English  name  and 
address,  but  on  being  taken  to  the  Tralee  Police 
Barracks  it  was  noticed  that  he  resembled  Sir 
R.  Casement's  portrait.  Meanwhile  his  two 
companions  in  the  boat  had  walked  to  Tralee 
and  interviewed  the  local  leaders  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers.  One  of  these  men,  who  called 
himself  Mulcahy,  returned  in  a  motor-car  with 
two  Volunteers  in  search  of  Sir  R.  Casement  and 
was  arrested  by  the  police;  the  other  made  his 
escape.  On  April  the  22nd  Casement,  who 
refused  to  give  his  true  name,  was  sent  to 
Dublin  Detention  Barracks,  and  thence  direct  to 
London,!  and  on  that  (Saturday)  evening  Mr. 
John  McNeill,  President  of  the  Irish  Volunteer 
Council,  issued  orders  countermanding  the 
Easter  Parades. 

On  Easter-Sunday  night,  April  the  23rd,  the 
prisoner  Mulcahy  made  a  voluntary  statement  to 
the  District  Inspector  at  Tralee.  He  told  him 
that  the  prisoner  who  had  gone  to  Dublin  was 
really  Sir  R.  Casement,  that  the  name  of  the 
third  man  who  landed  with  them  at  Banna  was 
Robert  Monteith,  and  that  his  own  name  was 
Daniel  Julian  Bailey,  a  private  in  the  Royal 
Irish   Rifles.      He   stated   that   he   was   taken 

t  He  was  tried  on  June  26th  on  a  charge  of  high  treason, 
was  sentenced  to  death  on  June  29th,  and  hanged  at  Fentonville 
Prison,  London,  on  August  3rd. 


18      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

prisoner  by  the  Germans  early  in  the  war  and 
that  he  subsequently  joined  the  so-called  Irish 
Brigade  at  the  instigation  of  Sir  R.  Casement. 
He  further  deposed  that  he,  Casement  and 
Monteith  left  Wilhelmshaven  in  a  submarine 
together  with  a  German  ship  full  of  arms  and 
ammunition  bound  for  the  Kerry  coast  to  arm  the 
Irish  Volunteers,  that  there  was  to  be  a  rebellion, 
and  that  the  plans  included  an  attack  upon 
Dublin  Castle. 

In  view  of  the  facts  that  the  ship  with  arms  on 
board  had  been  discovered  and  sunk,*  that  Sir  R. 
Casement  was  a  prisoner,  and  that  Mr.  McNeill 
had  cancelled  the  Volunteer  mobilisation,  a 
"  rising  "  seemed  unlikely.  Owing,  however,  it 
is  said  to  some  information  which  reached  them 
on  Sunday  night,  the  leaders  of  the  movement, 
fearing  that  their  Headquarters  in  which  they 
had  large  stores  of  explosives  and  arms  would  be 
raided  by  the  Military  and  they  themselves 
arrested,  decided  to  overrule  Mr.  McNeill  and 
launch  the  rebellion.  It  was  heralded  on  the 
morning  of  the  outbreak  by  the  publication  of  the 
following  proclamation  : — 


*  She  was  named  Aude,  and  was  sunk  off  the  south  coast 
f  Ireland. 


POBLACHT  NA  H'EIREANN. 


THE   PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

OF    THE 

IRISH  REPUBLIC. 
To  THE   People   of   Ireland. 

*'  Irishmen  and  Irishwomen. — In  the  name  of 
God  and  of  the  dead  generations  from  which  she 
receives  her  old  tradition  of  nation-hood,  Ireland, 
through  us,  summons  her  children  to  her  flag  and 
strikes  for  her  freedom. 

'*  Having  organised  and  trained  her  manhood 
through  her  secret  revolutionary  organisation,  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  and  through  her 
open  military  organisations,  the  Irish  Volunteers 
and  the  Irish  Citizen  Army,  having  patiently 
perfected  her  discipline,  having  resolutely  waited 
for  the  right  moment  to  reveal  itself,  she  now 
seizes  that  moment,  and  supported  by  her  exiled 
children  in  America  and  by  gallant  Allies  in 
Europe,  but  relying  in  the  first  on  her  own 
strength,  she  strikes  in  full  confidence  of  victory. 

"  We  declare  the  right  of  the  people  of 
Ireland  to  the  ownership  of  Ireland,  and  to 
the  unfettered  control  of  Irish  destinies,  to 
be  sovereign  and  indefeasible.  The  long 
usurpation  of  that  right  by  a  foreign  people  and 
government  has  not  extinguished  the  right,  nor 


20      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

can  it  ever  be  extinguished  except  by  the 
destruction  of  the  Irish  people.  In  every 
generation  the  Irish  people  have  asserted  their 
right  to  national  freedom  and  sovereignty.  Six 
times  during  the  past  three  hundred  years  they 
have  asserted  it  in  arms.  Standing  on  that 
fundamental  right  and  again  asserting  it  in 
arms,  in  the  face  of  the  world,  we  hereby 
proclaim  the  Irish  Republic  as  a  Sovereign 
Independent  State,  and  we  pledge  our  lives  and 
the  lives  of  our  comrades-in-arms  to  the  cause  of 
freedom,  of  its  welfare,  and  of  its  exaltation 
among  the  nations. 

' '  The  Irish  Republic  is  entitled  to,  and  hereby 
claims,  the  allegiance  of  every  Irishman  and 
Irishwoman.  The  Republic  guarantees  religious 
and  civil  liberty,  equal  rights  and  equal 
opportunities  to  all  its  citizens,  and  declares  its 
resolve  to  pursue  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  the  whole  nation  and  of  all  its  parts, 
cherishing  all  the  children  of  the  nation  equally, 
and  oblivious  of  the  differences  carefully  fostered 
by  an  alien  government,  which  have  divided  a 
minority  from  a  majority  in  the  past. 

"  Until  our  arms  have  brought  the  opportune 
moment  for  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
National  Government,  representative  of  the 
whole  people  of  Ireland  and  elected  by  the 
suffrages  of  all  her  men  and  women,  the 
Provisional  Government  hereby  constituted  will 
administer  the  civil  and  military  affairs  in  trust 
for  the  people. 

"  We  place  the  cause  of  the  Irish  Republic 


INTRODUCTORY.  21 

under  the  protection  of  the  Most  High  God, 
Whose  blessing  we  invoke  upon  our  arms,  and  we 
pray  that  no  one  who  serves  that  cause  will 
dishonour  it  by  cowardice,  inhiunanity  or  rapine. 
In  this  supreme  hour  the  Irish  nation  must,  by 
its  valour  and  discipline  and  by  the  readiness  of 
its  children  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  the  common 
good,  prove  itself  worthy  of  the  august  destiny 
to  which  it  is  called. 

**  Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Provisional 
Government, 

Thomas  J.   Clarke. 
Sean  MacDiarmada.      Thomas  MacDonagh. 
P.  H.  Pearse.  Eamonn  Ceannt. 

James  Connolly.  Joseph  Plunkett."  ' 

On  Easter  Monday,  24th  April  1916,  at  noon, 
the  storm  burst  in  Dublin,  and  for  the  following 
six  days  the  City  and  the  suburbs  were  the  scene 
of  grave  loss  of  life  and  destruction  of  property. 
The  revolution  was  organised  by  the  Irish  (Sinn 
Fein)  Volunteers,  and  it  was  carried  out  by  them 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Citizen  Army, 
Hibernian  Rifles,  and  other  similar  bodies. 

Twelve  o'clock  in  the  day  was  the  hour  fixed 
for  the  beginning  of  the  operations,  and  at  that 
time  or  shortly  afterwards  bodies  of  armed  Sinn 
Peiners  quietly  entered  the  buildings  to  which 
they  had  been  assigned,  turned  out  the  occupants 
and  took  possession.  Anyone  who  resisted  was 
promptly  shot.  In  this  way  the  principal 
buildings  in  the  City  were  captured,   and  the 


22     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

rebels  at  once  set  about  erecting  barricades,  and 
taking  precautions  against  attack. 

The  General  Post  Office  in  Sackville  Street 
proved  to  be  the  central  fortress  of  the  rebels.  It 
was  here  that  P.  H.  Pearse,  "  the  Commandant- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  of  the  Republic  and 
President  of  the  Provisional  Government," 
established  his  Headquarters  and  issued  his 
orders.  All  corner  houses  commanding  the 
approaches  were  garrisoned  with  snipers,  who 
were  hidden  behind  sandbags.  Kelly's,  the 
gunsmith's,  at  the  corner  of  Batchelor's  Walk, 
and  Hopkin's  jewellery  shop  at  the  corner  of 
Eden  Quay,  were  held  in  this  way  in  great 
strength.  Other  houses  on  each  side  of  Lower 
Sackville  Street,  and  in  particular  those  at  the 
four  corners  of  Abbey  Street,  were  garrisoned  in 
like  manner.  Then  the  work  of  provisioning  the 
various  garrisons  having  the  Post  Office  as  their 
centre  was  actively  proceeded  with,  every  variety 
of  foodstuffs  being  commandeered  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet.  All  the  telegraph  wires  were  cut, 
thus  isolating  the  City  from  the  rest  of  the 
country.  The  failure  of  the  Volunteers  to  seize 
the  Telephone  Exchange  in  Crown  Alley  proved 
a  great  advantage  to  the  military  in  dealing  with 
the  insurgents. 

The  proceedings  at  St.  Stephen's  Green  Park 
were  somewhat  similar,  At  mid-day  small 
groups  of  Sinn  Fein  Volunteers  were  standing 
about  the  entrance  gates,  and  at  a  given  signal 
they  quietly  walked  inside,  closed  the  gates, 
posted  armed  guards  at  them,  and  then  set  about 


INTRODUCTORY.  23 

clearing  all  civilians  out  of  the  Park.  In  half- 
an-hour  the  Park  was  cleared  of  all  non- 
combatants.  The  next  move  of  the  rebels  was 
to  take  possession  of  a  number  of  houses 
commanding  the  approaches,  and  amongst  the 
places  occupied  were  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  at  the  corner  of  York  Street,  and 
Little's  public-house  at  the  corner  of  Cuffe  Street. 
The  houses  at  the  other  approaches  were  not  so 
advantageously  situated,  but  numerous  snipefs 
were  placed  in  them. 

Dublin  Castle,  the  Headquarters  of  the  Irish 
Executive,  was  attacked  by  a  handful  of  Volun- 
teers, and  had  any  force  of  Sinn  Feiners  joined 
in  the  attack  the  Castle  would  almost  certainly 
have  been  captured,  as  there  were  only  a  few 
soldiers  on  duty.  A  policeman  on  duty  at  the 
Upper  Castle  Yard  was  shot  in  cold  blood,  but 
the  small  garrison  came  to  the  rescue  and  the 
invaders  were  driven  off.  Other  bodies  of  rebels 
succeeded  in  taking  possession  of  buildings  over- 
looking the  approaches  to  the  Upper  Castle 
Yard.  In  this  way  the  ofiBces  of  the  "  Daily 
Express  "  and  "  Evening  Mail  "  were  entered, 
and  the  staff  turned  out  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  The  City  Hall,  the  rear  of  which 
commands  the  offices  of  the  Chief  Secretary's 
Department,  the  Prisons  Board  and  other 
Government  Offices,  was  also  filled  with  snipers. 

Simultaneously  with  these  incidents,  attempts 
were  made  to  occupy  the  railway  termini  in  the 
City.  Westland  Row  Station  and  Harcourt 
Street  Station  were  early  in  the  possession  of  the 


24     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

rebels,  and  the  rails  on  the  Kingstown  line  were 
torn  up  at  Lansdown  Road.  The  Harcourt  Street 
Station  was  found  unsuitable  for  defence,  and 
was  abandoned  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
Abortive  attempts  were  made  to  secure  Amiens 
Street  Terminus,  Kingsbridge  Terminus,  and 
Broadstone  Terminus.  Where  they  did  not 
succeed  in  occupying  the  stations  the  rebels  either 
attempted  to  blow  up  railway  bridges  or  cut  the 
lines,  and  nearly  all  the  train  communication 
with  the  City  was  stopped  for  a  week. 

All  the  points  in  the  City  which  were 
considered  of  strategical  importance  having  been 
occupied  by  the  rebels,  their  plans  were  further 
developed  by  the  taking  possession  of  positions 
controlling  the  approaches  from  military 
barracks.  The  Four  Courts  were  early  in  their 
hands,  and  men  were  posted  all  over  the  building 
to  attack  troops  which  might  approach  along  the 
quays  from  the  direction  of  Phoenix  Park.  The 
Four  Courts  Hotel,  which  adjoins  the  Courts, 
was  garrisoned.  On  the  bridges  over  the  railway 
on  the  North  Circular  Road  and  Cabra  Road 
strong  barricades  were  erected.  Liberty  Hall 
was  strongly  held  by  the  rebels,  but  the  Custom 
House  was  left  unmolested.  Across  the  river, 
on  the  South  side,  Boland's  Mill  was  fortified  in 
every  possible  manner,  and  constituted  a 
stronghold  of  great  strategical  importance. 
Round  by  Northumberland  Road,  Pembroke 
Road,  and  Lansdovm  Road,  private  houses  were 
occupied  and  garrisoned  to  resist  the  approach 
of   reinforcements    for   the   military    from   the 


INTRODUCTORY.  25 

Kingstown  direction.  Portobello  Bridge,  which 
commands  the  approach  to  the  City  from  the 
military  barracks  at  that  place,  was  the  scene  of 
a  short  but  severe  i&ght  shortly  after  mid-day  on 
Monday.  The  rebels  had  taken  possession  of 
Davy's  public-house,  which  is  close  to  the  bridge 
and  faces  the  barracks.  Their  presence  was 
disclosed  at  an  early  stage  by  an  attempt  to 
capture  an  officer  who  happened  to  be  passing 
over  the  bridge.  He  fortunately  escaped,  and 
gave  the  alarm.  A  small  number  of  soldiers  was 
turned  out  at  once,  but  they  were  unable  to  dis- 
lodge the  rebels.  Strong  reinforcements  were 
sent  out,  and  after  a  short  and  sharp  fight  the 
public-house  was  captured  by  the  military,  who 
remained  in  possession  afterwards. 

At  more  remote  places  in  the  southern  suburbs 
rebels  had  taken  up  positions  of  defence,  but 
strong  cavalry  patrols  hunted  them  from  point 
to  point  and  finally  dispersed  them,  though  not 
until  many  of  the  soldiers  had  been  wounded. 
The  South  Dublin  Union  in  James's  Street  and 
a  distillery  in  Marrowbone  Lane  were  two  other 
strong  points  in  the  Sinn  Fein  plan.  The 
workhouse  was  attacked  by  the  Military  on 
Monday,  and  after  a  stiff  fight,  during  which 
many  casualties  occurred  on  both  sides,  the 
remnant  of  the  rebel  garrison  was  driven  into  one 
part  of  the  premises,  where  they  maintained  their 
struggle  until  Sunday. 

Jacob's  Biscuit  Factory  in  Bishop  Street, 
though  it- does  not  occupy  a  strategical  position 
of  any  importance,  was  filled  with  foodstuffs  of 


26     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

various  descriptions,  and  probably  in  this  respect 
it  was  deemed  necessary  to  instal  in  it  a  large 
garrison,  so  as  to  make  certain  that  supplies 
would  be  available  for  the  rebels  in  other  places. 
If  this, was  the  idea  it  never  had  the  slightest 
chance  of  succeeding,  as  the  factory  was 
surrounded  early  in  the  week  by  a  military 
cordon. 

The  foregoing  are  the  outlines  of  the  position 
on  the  eyening  of  the  first  day  of  the  rebellion. 
Several  instances  of  non-combatants  being  shot 
by  Sinn  Feiners  took  place  during  the  day  in 
various  parts  of  the  City.  The  most  shocking 
was  the  shooting  down  of  several  members  of  the 
Veteran  Corps  on  Haddington  Road.  A  large 
muster  of  this  Corps  had  gone  out  on  a  route 
march  to  Ticknock,  and  when  they  were 
returning  in  the  afternoon  to  their  Headquarters 
at  Beggar's  Bush  Barracks  they  were  ambushed 
in  Haddington  Road  by  a  body  of  Sinn  Feiners, 
who  poured  volleys  of  rifle  shots  into  the  ranks 
of  the  defenceless  Veterans.  Five  were  fatally, 
and  many  others  seriously,  wounded.  The  rest 
of  the  Veterans  got  to  their  Barracks  where  they 
had  to  remain  until  the  following  week. 

On  learning  that  several  of  his  men  had  been 
shot  by  the  rebels  the  Chief  Commissioner  of 
the  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police  ordered  the 
withdrawal  from  the  streets  of  the  entire 
uniformed  force  within  an  hour  or  two  of  the 
outbreak.  The  "  underworld  "  of  the  City 
quickly  realised  its  opportunity,  and  first  tackled 
the  shops  in  Lower  Sackville  Street.  The  windows 


INTRODUCTORY.  27 

were  smashed  and  hordes  of  people  crowded  into 
the  shops,  returning  with  bundles  of  wearing 
apparel  of  all  descriptions.  Noblett's  at  the 
corner  of  Earl  Street,  and  Lemon's  in  Lower 
Sackville  Street,  were  tit-bits  for  the  younger 
section  of  the  roughs,  who  made  merry  with  boxes 
of  chocolates,  sweets,  etc.,  all  the  afternoon. 
The  toyshops  were  also  centres  of  great  activity, 
and  then  having  exhausted  Lower  Sackville 
Street,  the  crowd  swept  round  into  Earl  Street 
and  Henry  Street,  where  they  found  <  an 
abundance  and  variety  that  suited  every  taste. 

On  Easter  Monday  a  Proclamation  was  issued 
by  the  Lord  Lieutenant  enjoining  all  loyal 
citizens  to  abstain  from  acts  of  violence,  and  on 
the  following  day,  25th  April,  Martial  Law  was 
proclaimed  in  the  City  and  County  of  Dublin. 
On  the  26th  the  whole  of  Ireland  was  placed 
under  the  same  regime. 

The  country  generally  remained  quiet,  and  in 
only  four  counties — Dublin,  Louth,  Galway  East 
and  West  Ridings,  and  Wexford — did  the 
Volunteers  rise  up  in  arms.  In  a  few  others 
destructive  acts  were  committed,  obviously 
intended  to  further  the  rising.  For  example, 
on  the  night  of  Easter  Sunday  in  Queen's  County 
a  portion  of  the  railway  line  between  Mary- 
borough and  Abbeyleix  was  pulled  up  by  a  band 
of  men,  some  of  whom  were  armed,  whilst  in 
Longford  the  telegraph  wires  were  cut  in  several 
places.  In  Kildare  telegraph  wires  were  also 
cut,  and  a  party  of  14  armed  Irish  Volunteers 
marched  to  Dublin,   the  leader   threatening  to 


28     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

shoot    a    police    patrol    if    it    followed    them. 

In  Louth  a  party  of  Irish  Volunteers  marched 
from  Dundalk  to  Slane  and  on  the  way  took 
possession  of  20  rifles  the  property  of  the 
National  Volunteers  at  Ardee.  On  their  return 
(April  24th),  at  Lurgan  Green,  near  Dundalk, 
they  were  informed  by  a  messenger  that  the 
Irish  Republic  had  been  proclaimed  in  Dublin. 
They  at  once  arrested  two  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary  who  had  been  keeping  them  under 
observation,  and  began  commandeering  motor- 
cars, then,  after  firing  at  and  wounding  a  farmer 
who  refused  to  stop,  they  proceeded  to  the  village 
of  Castlebellingham.  Here  they  obliged  Lieut. 
Dunville,  Grenadier  Guards,  to  give  up  his 
motor,  placed  him  and  Constable  Magee  against 
some  railings,  and  shot  at  them  both,  the  latter 
being  mortally  wounded.  They  then  made  off  in 
the  direction  of  Drogheda  and  thence  to  Slane. 

On  April  25th,  in  the  West  Riding  of  Galway, 
a  strong  party  of  Irish  Volunteers  assembled 
under  arms  and  tore  up  the  railway  line  between 
Galway  and  Oranmore,  cutting  telegraph  wires 
and  posts,  and  injuring  the  bridge  at  Oranmore. 
Barricades  were  erected  on  the  road  at  Claren- 
bridge  and  motor-cars  were  commandeered. 
Five  police  were  captured  singly  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  the  rebels  opened  fire  on  the 
police  barracks  at  Clarenbridge  and  Oranmore. 
Having  summoned  the  police  at  Clarenbridge  to 
surrender  and  give  up  their  arms,  and  being  met 
with  a  refusal,  the  rebels  withdrew  from  Claren- 
bridge and  joined  forces  with  the  party  attacking 


INTRODUCTORY.  29 

Oranmore.  About  200  were  attacking  the 
barracks  when  a  relief  party  of  police  arrived  on 
the  scene  from  Galway  in  motor-cars  and  put 
them  to  flight.  These  two  barracks  are  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  sea,  and  the  rebels  expected  a 
German  landing. 

On  the  following  day,  April  26th,  a  party  of 
23  R.I.C.  under  the  District  Inspector,  with  10 
military,  left  Galway  at  4-15  a.m.  to  reconnoitre, 
and  encountered  a  force  of  about  80  rebels  at 
Cammore  Cross  Roads.  In  the  brief  engagement 
that  ensued  the  R.I.C.  had  one  man  killed.  The 
rebels  then  retreated,  whilst  the  combined  party 
of  police  and  soldiers  took  up  a  strong  position 
outside  Galway  to  oppose  Sinn  Feiners  advancing 
to  attack  the  City.  The  rebels  took  possession  of 
a  rocky  hill,  but  from  this  they  were  speedily 
routed  by  gun-fire  from  a  warship  in  the  Bay. 

Next  day  the  East  and  West  Galway  rebels 
joined  forces  at  Moyode  Castle.  Desertions, 
however,  began  to  thin  their  ranks,  and  hearing 
next  day  that  a  large  force  of  military  and  R.I.C. 
had  arrived  at  Loughrea,  a  few  miles  distant, 
they  moved  to  Lime  Park,  dispersing  as  they 
went  along.  When  a  party  of  police  reached 
Moyode  on  the  29th  they  found  that  the  rebels 
had  vacated  it,  abandoning  five  police  prisoners 
and  a  quantity  of  provisions  which  they  had 
looted. 

The  same  day,  April  27th,  in  County  Dublin 
a  party  of  rebel  Volunteers  from  Swords  and 
Donabate  (who  had  previously  overpowered  and 
captured  the  small  R.I.C.   garrisons  at  those 


30      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

places)  raided  Garristown  Police  Barracks,  but 
the  police  had  been  already  withdrawn,  taking 
their  arms  with  them.  The  rebels  then  marched 
on  Howth,  intending  to  cut  the  English 
cable,  but  finding  themselves  opposed  by  twenty 
military  and  eight  police,  and  seeing  two  gun- 
boats on  their  way  from  Kingstown  to  Skerries 
with  troops,  they  turned  west  and,  next  day 
(28th  April),  attacked  the  police  barracks  at 
Ashbourne,  County  Meath.  County  Inspector 
Gray  and  District  Inspector  Smith  with  fifty- 
four  R.I.C.  men  drove  out  from  Navan  in  motor- 
cars to  engage  them.  It  was  estimated  at  the 
time  that  the  rebels  numbered  400.  The  police 
fought  for  five  hours,  when,  having  lost  one 
officer  and  six  men  killed,  and  their  County 
Inspector  and  14  men  wounded,  being  surrounded 
and  having  expended  practically  all  their 
ammunition,  they  surrendered.  The  survivors 
were  disarmed  and  then  released.  The  rebel 
force  remained  in  the  locality  for  a  couple  of 
days,  gradually  melting  away,  and  on  the  30th 
the  thirty-two  who  still  held  together  surrendered 
to  the  military. 

In  Wexford  the  Irish  Volunteers  at 
Enniscorthy  took  possession  of  the  town  at 
4  a.m.  on  April  27th.  They  cut  the  telegraph 
wires,  commandeered  provisions  and  motor-cars, 
and  besieged  the  Police  Barracks  and  the  Post 
Office.  As,  however,  the  police  were  well 
supplied  with  ammunition,  they  were  able  to 
defend  their  barracks,  the  Post  Office,  and  the 
Bank  of  Ireland,  and  to  hold  the  rebels  at  bay 


INTRODUCTORY.  31 

for  five  days  until  relieved  by  troops.  On  May 
1st  these  rebels  surrendered  to  the  military. 

In  West  Cork,  at  Ballinadee,  on  April  30th, 
a  party  of  Irish  Volunteers  held  up  Sergeant 
Crean,  R.I.C.,  on  the  road,  searched  him,  and 
threatened  to  shoot  him  if  seen  near  them  again. 
On  the  same  night  the  telegraph  wires  were  cut 
between  Clonakilty  and  the  War  Signal  Station 
at  Galley  Head,  but  this  appears  to  have  been 
the  only  exploit  of  the  rebels  in  this  district. 

These  were  the  principal  events  in  the 
provinces  between  April  23rd  and  May  1st, 
1916.  There  were  a  number  of  minor  incidents, 
such  as  the  cutting  of  wires,  obstructing  and 
pulling  up  rails,  commandeering  vehicles  and 
food ;  but  with  the  surrender  of  the  Enniscorthy 
rebels  on  May  1st  the  rebellion  in  the  provinces 
may  be  said  to  have  come  to  an  end. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  situation  at  Dublin. 
On  Easter  Monday,  24th  April,  at  12-15  p.m., 
a  telephone  message  was  received  by  the  Military 
Authorities  from  the  Dublin  Metropolitan 
Police  announcing  that  Dublin  Castle  was  being 
-attacked  by  armed  Sinn  Feiners.  The  Military 
Authorities  at  once  ordered  all  available  troops 
from  Portobello,  Richmond  and  Royal  Barracks 
to  proceed  to  the  Castle,  and  the  6th  Reserve 
Cavalry  Regiment  towards  Sackville  Street. 

The  fighting  strength  of  the  troops  available 
in  Dublin  at  the  moment  was  : — 6th  Reserve 
Cavalry  Regiment :  35  officers,  851  other  ranks; 
3rd  Royal  Irish  Regiment :  18  officers,  385  other 
ranks ;  10th  Royal  Dublin  Fusiliers :  37  officers, 


32     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

430  other  ranks ;  3rd  Royal  Irish  Rifles :  21 
officers,  650  other  ranks. 

Of  these  troops  an  inlying  picquet  of  400  men^ 
which  for  some  diays  had  been  held  in  readiness, 
proceeded  at  once,  and  the  remainder  followed 
shortly  afterwards. 

At  12-30  p.m.  a  telephone  message  was  sent  to 
the  General  Officer  commanding  at  Curragh  to 
mobilise  the  mobile  column,  which  had  been 
devised  to  meet  any  emergency,  and  to  despatch 
it  dismounted  to  Dublin  by  trains  which  were 
being  sent  from  Kingsbridge.  This  column, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Portal,  consisted 
of  1,600  officers  and  other  ranks  from  the  3rd 
Reserve  Cavalry  Brigade. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  despatch  of  this 
message  telephone  communication  in  Dublin 
became  very  interrupted. 

As  the  occupation  of  the  General  Post  Office 
by  the  Sinn  Feiners  prevented  the  use  of  the 
telegraph,  a  message  reporting  the  situation  in 
Dublin  was  sent  at  1-10  p.m.  to  the  naval  centre 
at  Kingstown,  asking  that  information  of  the 
rising  might  be  transmitted  by  wireless  through 
the  Admiralty  to  the  War  Office.    This  was  done. 

The  first  objectives  undertaken  by  the  troops- 
were  to  recover  possession  of  the  Magazine  in 
Phoenix  Park,  where  the  rebels  had  set  fire  to  a 
quantity  of  ammunition;  to  relieve  the  Castle; 
and  to  strengthen  the  guards  at  the  Viceregal 
Lodge  and  other  points  of  importance.  The 
Magazine  was  quickly  re-occupied,  but  the  troops- 
moving  on  the  Castle  were  held  up  by  the  rebels. 


INTEODUCTOEY.  33 

who  had  occupied  the  surrounding  houses  and 
had  barricaded  the  streets  with  carts  and  other 
material. 

Between  1-40  p.m.  and  2  p.m.  50  men  of  the 
3rd  Eoyal  Irish  Eifles,  and  130  men  of  the  10th 
Eoyal  Dublin  Fusiliers,  reached  the  Castle  by 
the  Ship  Street  entrance.  At  4-45  p.m.  the  first 
train  from  the  Curragh  arrived  at  Kingsbridge 
Station,  and  by  5-20  the  whole  Cavalry  colunm, 
1,600  strong,  had  arrived,  one  train  being  sent 
on  from  Kingsbridge  to  North  Wall  by  the  loop 
line  to  guard  the  docks. 

During  the  day  the  following  troops  were 
ordered  to  Dublin  : — 

A  battery  of  four  18-pounders,  E.F.A., 
from  the  Eeserve  Artillery  Brigade  at 
Athlone. 

The  4th  Dublin  Fusiliers  from  Temple- 
more. 

A  composite  battalion  from  Belfast. 
An    additional     1,000    men     from    the 
Curragh. 

During  the  afternoon  and  evening  small  parties 
of  troops  were  engaged  with  the  rebels.  The 
3rd  Eoyal  Irish  Eegiment  on  its  way  to  the  Castle 
was  held  up  by  the  rebels  in  the  South  Dublin 
Union,  which  they  had  attacked  and  partially 
occupied.  A  detachment  of  two  officers  and  50 
men  from  the  6th  Eeserve  Cavalry  Eegiment, 
which  was  conveying  some  ammunition  from  the 
North  Wall,  was  surrounded  in  Charles  Street, 
but  succeeded  in  parking  its  convoy  and  defended 

D 


34     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

this  with  great  gallantry  for  3^  days,  when  it 
was  relieved;  during  this  defence  the  officer  in 
command  was  killed  and  the  remaining  officer 
wounded. 

The  rebels  in  Saint  Stephen's  Green  were 
attacked,  and  picquets  with  machine-guns  were 
established  in  the  United  Service  Club  and  the 
Shelbourne  Hotel  with  a  view  to  dominating  the 
Square  and  its  exits. 

At  9-35  p.m.  Colonel  Kennard,  Officer  Com- 
manding Troops,  Dublin,  reached  the  Castle  with 
another  party  of  86  men  of  the  3rd  Royal  Irish 
Regiment. 

The  defence  of  the  docks  at  North  Wall  was 
undertaken  by  Major  H.  F.  Somerville,  com- 
manding a  detachment  from  the  School  of 
Musketry,  Dollymount,  reinforced  by  330  officers 
and  men  of  the  9th  Reserve  Cavalry  Regiment. 
The  occupation  of  the  Custom  House,  which 
dominated  Liberty  Hall,  was  carried  out  at 
night,  and  was  of  great  assistance  in  later 
operations  against  Liberty  Hall. 

The  situation  at  midnight  on  Monday,  the 
24th,  was  that  the  Military  held  the  Magazine, 
Phoenix  Park,  the  Castle,  and  the  Ship  Street 
entrance  to  it,  the  Royal  Hospital,  all  barracks, 
the  Kingsbridge,  Amiens  Street  and  North 
Wall  Railway  Stations,  the  Dublin  Telephone 
Exchange  in  Crown  Alley,  the  Electric  Power 
Station  at  Pigeon  House  Fort,  Trinity  College, 
Mount] oy  Prison,  and  Kingstown  Harbour. 
The  Sinn  Feiners  held  Sackville  Street  and  blocks 
of   buildings   on   each   side   of   this,    including 


INTRODUCTORY.  35 

Liberty  Hall,  with  their  Headquarters  at  the 
General  Post  Office,  the  Four  Courts,  Jacob's 
Biscuit  Factory,  South  Dublin  Union,  St. 
Stephen's  Green,  all  the  approaches  to  the  Castle 
except  Ship  Street  entrance,  and  many  houses 
all  over  the  Citj^,  especially  about  Ballsbridge 
and  Beggar's  Bush. 

On  April  25th  Brigadier-General  W.  H.  M. 
Lowe,  Commanding  the  Reserve  Cavalry  Brigade 
at  the  Curragh,  arrived  at  Kingsbridge  Station 
at  3-45  a.m.  with  the  leading  troops  from  the 
25th  (Irish)  Reserve  Infantry  Brigade,  and 
assumed  command  of  the  forces  in  the  Dublin 
area.  These  forces  were,  roughly,  2,300  men  of 
the  Dublin  garrison,  the  Curragh  mobile  column 
of  1,500  dismounted  cavalrymen,  and  840  men 
of  the  25th  Irish  Reserve  Infantry  Brigade. 

In  order  to  relieve  and  get  into  communication 
with  the  Castle,  Colonel  Portal,  commanding 
the  Curragh  Mobile  Column,  was  ordered  to 
establish  a  line  of  posts  from  Kingsbridge  Station 
to  Trinity  College  via  the  Castle.  This  was 
completed  by  12  noon  on  the  25th  April,  and  with 
very  little  loss.  It  divided  the  rebel  forces  in 
two,  gave  a  safe  line  of  advance  for  troops 
extending  operations  to  the  north  or  south,  and 
permitted  communication  by  despatch-rider  with 
some  of  the  commands.  The  only  means  of 
communication  previous  to  this  had  been  by 
telephone,  which  was  unquestionably  being 
tapped.  The  Dublin  University  Officers'  Train- 
ing Corps  held  the  College  Building  until  the 
troops  arrived,  thus  separating  the  rebel  centre 


36     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

round  the  General  Post  Office  from  that  round 
Stephen's  Green,  and  also  preventing  the  rebels 
from  entering  the  Bank  of  Ireland,  which  is 
directly  opposite  to  and  commanded  by  the 
College  buildings. 

During  the  day  the  4th  RoyM  Dublin  Fusiliers 
from  Templemore,  a  composite  Ulster  Battalion 
from  Belfast,  and  a  battery  of  four  18-pounders 
from  the  Reserve  Artillery  Brigade  at  Athlone 
arrived,  and  this  enabled  a  cordon  to  be 
established  round  the  northern  part  of  the  City 
from  Parkgate,  along  the  North  Circular  Road, 
to  North  Wall.  Broadstone  Railway  Station  was 
cleared  of  rebels,  and  a  barricade  near  Phibs- 
borough  was  destroyed  by  artillery  fire. 

As  a  heavy  fire  on  the  Castle  was  being  kept 
up  by  the  rebels  located  in  the  Corporation  Build- 
ings, "  Daily  Express  "  office,  and  several 
houses  opposite  the  City  Hall,  it  was  decided  to 
attack  these  buildings.  The  assault  on  the 
' '  Daily  Express  ' '  office  was  successfully  carried 
out  under  very  heavy  fire  by  a  detachment  of  the 
5th  Royal  Dublin  Fusiliers. 

The  main  forces  of  the  rebels  having  now  been 
located  in  and  around  Sackville  Street,  the  Four 
Courts,  and  adjoining  buildings,  it  was  decided 
to  try  to  enclose  that  area  north  of  the  Liffey  by 
a  cordon  of  troops,  so  as  to  localise  as  far  as 
possible  the  efforts  of  the  rebels.  Towards 
evening  the  178th  Infantry  Brigade  began  to 
arrive  at  Kingstown,  and  in  accordance  with 
orders  received  the  brigade  left  Kingstown  by 
road  in  two  columns  :  the  left  column,  consisting 


INTRODUCTORY.  37 

of  the  5th  and  6th  Battalions  Sherwood 
ForesterSj  by  the  Stillorgan-Dpnnybrook  Road 
and  South  Circular  Road  to  the  Royal 
Hospital,  where  it  arrived  without  opposition; 
the  right  column,  consisting  of  the  7th  and 
8th  Battalions  Sherwood  Foresters,  by  the 
main  tram  route  through  Ballsbridge  and 
directed  on  Merrion  Square  and  Trinity 
College.  This  column,  with  the  7th  Battalion 
leading,  was  held  up  at  the  northern  corner 
of  Haddington  Road  and  Northumberland  Road, 
which  was  strongly  held  by  rebels,  but  with 
the  assistance  of  bombing  parties  the  rebels  were 
driven  back.  At  3-25  p.m.  the  7th  Battalion 
Sherwood  Foresters  met  great  opposition  from 
the  rebels  holding  the  schools  and  other  houses 
on  the  north  side  of  the  road  close  to  the  bridge 
at  Lower  Mount  Street,  and  two  officers  were 
killed  and  seven  wounded.  At  about  5-30  p.m. 
orders  were  received  that  the  advance  to  Trinity 
College  was  to  be  pushed  forward  at  all  costs. 
At  about  8  p.m.,  therefore,  after  careful 
arrangements,  the  whole  column,  accompanied 
by  bombing  parties,  attacked  the  schools  and 
houses  where  the  cHief  opposition  lay.  The 
battalions,  charging  in  successive  waves,  carried 
all  before  them,  but  suffered  severe  casualties  in 
doing  so.  Four  officers  were  killed,  14  wounded, 
and  of  other  ranks  216  were  killed  and  wounded. 
In  view  of  the  opposition  met  with  it  was  not 
considered  advisable  to  push  on  to  Trinity 
College  that  night;  so  at  11  p.m.  the  5th  South 
Staffordshire  regiment  reinforced  this  column, 


38     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

and  by  occupying  the  positions  gained  allowed 
the  two  battalions  of  the  Sherwood  Foresters  to 
be  concentrated  at  Ballsbridge. 

Meanwhile  severe  fighting  had  taken  place  in 
the  Sackville  Street  quarter.  At  8  a.m.  Liberty 
Hall,  the  former  headquarters  of  the  Citizen 
Army,  was  attacked  by  field  guns  from  the 
South  bank  of  the  River  Liffey  and  by  a  gun  from 
the  patrol  ship  Helga,  with  the  result  that 
considerable  progress  was  made.  During  the 
night  of  the  26-27th  April  several  fires  broke  out 
in  this  quarter  and  threatened  to  become 
dangerous  as  the  fire  brigade  could  not  get  to 
work  owing  to  its  being  fired  upon  by  the  rebels. 
Throughout  the  day  further  troops  of  the  I76th 
Brigade  arrived  in  the  Dublin  area. 
On  April  27th  the 

5th  Leinsters, 

2 /6th  Sherwood  Foresters, 

3rd  Royal  Irish  Regiment, 

The  Ulster  composite  battalion, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Portal,  began  and 
completed  by  5  p.m.  the  forming  of  a  cordon 
round  the  rebels  in  the  Sackville  Street  area, 
which  operation  was  carried  out  with  small  loss. 
About  12-45  p.m.  Linen  Hall  Barracks,  which 
were  occupied  by  the  Army  Pay  Office,  were 
reported  to  have  been  set  on  fire  by  the  rebels 
and  were  destroyed. 

By  nightfall  the  I77th  Infantry  Brigade  had 
arrived  at  Kingstown,  where  it  remained  for  the 
night. 

About  2  a.m.   on   the  28th  April  Sir  John 


INTRODUCTORY.  39 

Maxwell  arrived  at  North  Wall,  and  after  a 
conference  with  Major-General  Friend  and 
Brigadier-General  Lowe  the  latter  was  instructed 
to  close  in  on  Sackville  Street  from  East  and 
West,  and  to  carry  out  a  house-to-house  search 
in  areas  gained.  The  2 /4th  Lincolns  then  formed 
a  cordon  along  the  Grand  Canal,  so  enclosing  the 
southern  part  of  the  City  and  forming  a  complete 
cordon  round  Dublin. 

During  the  afternoon  the  2 /5th  and  2 /6th 
Reserve  Cavalry  Regiments,  which  had  been 
escorting  ammunition  and  rifles  from  North  Wall 
and  had  been  held  up  in  Charles  Street,  were 
relieved  by  armoured  motor  lorries.  These  had 
been  roughly  armoured  with  boiler  plates  by  the 
Inchicore  Railway  Works  and  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Military  by  Messrs.  Guinness. 

Throughout  the  night  the  process  of  driving 
out  the  rebels  in  and  around  Sackville  Street 
continued,  though  these  operations  were  greatly 
hampered  by  the  fires  in  this  area  and  by  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  burning  houses  contained  rebel 
stores  of  explosives  which  every  now  and  again 
blew  up.  In  other  parts  of  the  City  the  troops 
had  a  trying  time  dealing  with  the  numerous 
snipers,  who  became  very  troublesome  during  the 
hours  of  darkness. 

Owing  to  the  considerable  opposition  at 
barricades,  especially  in  North  King  Street,  it 
was  not  until  9  a.m.  on  29th  April  that  the  Four 
Courts  area  was  completely  surrounded. 

Throughout  the  morning  the  squeezing  out  of 
the  surrounded  areas  was  vigorously  proceeded 


40     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

with,  the  infantry  being  greatly  assisted  by  a 
battery  of  Field  Artillery;  the  guns  being  used 
against  the  buildings  held  by  the  rebels  with  such 
good  effect  that  a  Red  Cross  Nurse  brought  in  a 
message  from  the  rebel  leader,  P.  H.  Pearse, 
asking  for  terms.  A  reply  was  sent  that  only 
unconditional  surrender  would  be  accepted. 
At  2  p.m.  Pearse  surrendered  himself 
unconditionally,  and  was  brought  before  Sir 
John  Maxwell,  when  he  wrote  and  signed 
notices  ordering  the  various  ' '  Commandoes  ' '  to 
surrender  unconditionally.  During  the  evening 
the  greater  part  of  the  rebels  in  the  Sackville 
Street  and  Four  Courts  area  surrendered. 

Early  on  the  30th  April  two  Franciscan  monks 
informed  Sir  John  Maxwell  that  the  rebel  leader, 
MacDonagh,  declining  to  accept  Pearse 's  orders, 
wished  to  negotiate.  He  was  informed  that  only 
unconditional  surrender  would  be  accepted,  and 
at  3  p.m.,  when  all  preparations  for  an  attack 
on  Jacob's  Biscuit  Factory,  which  he  held,  had 
been  made,  MacDonagh  and  his  band  of  rebels 
surrendered  unconditionally.  These  surrenders 
practically  ended  the  rebellion  in  the  City  of 
Dublin. 

Throughout  the  night  of  30th  April — 1st 
May  isolated  rebels  continued  to  snipe  the  troops, 
but  during  the  1st  May  these  were  gradually 
cleared  out,  and  in  conjunction  with  the  police  a 
systematic  house-to-house  search  for  rebels  and 
arms  was  continued. 

As  soon  as  the  rebellion  in  Dublin  had  been 
crushed,  mobile  columns,  each  consisting  of  from 


INTRODUCTORY.  41 

one  to  two  companies  of  Infantry,  a  squadron  of 
cavalry,  one  18-pounder  gun  and  an  armoured 
car  were  sent  to  the  disturbed  parts  of  Ireland. 
Each  column  was  allotted  a  definite  area  which, 
in  close  co-operation  with  the  local  police,  was 
gone  through,  and  dangerous  Sinn  Feiners  and 
men  who  were  known  to  have  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  rising  were  arrested;  in  addition  many 
arms  belonging  to  Sinn  Feiners  were  surrendered 
or  seized. 

The    total    casualties    arising    out    of    this 
rebellion  were  as  follows  : — 

Killed.    Wounded.  Missing.  Total. 


Military  Officers     ...     17 

46 

63 

,,        other  ranks     99 

322 

9        430 

R.I.C.      Officers     ...       2 

2 

,,          other  ranks     11 

22 

83 

D.M.P 3 

7 

10 

Civilians  and 

Insurgents       ...  318 

2,217 

2,535 

Totals:     450      2,614        9      3,073 

On  the  recommendation  of  the  Property  Losses 
{Ireland)  Committee,  ex  gratia  rebuilding  grants 
were  awarded  in  212  cases — adjoining  houses  in 
one  street  and  in  the  same  occupancy  being 
treated  as  a  single  case — in  respect  of  premises 
totally  or  in  great  part  destroyed  in  Dublin 
during  the  rebellion.  The  total  amount  of  these 
grants  was  £742,926,  representing  the  value  of 
the  buildings  at  the  time  of  destruction. 


42     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

In  addition,  ex  gratia  grants,  amounting  to  a 
total  of  more  than  one  million  pounds  sterling, 
were  paid,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
Committee,  in  respect  of  the  stock,  fittings,  etc., 
of  these  premises,  other  chattel  losses,  and  minor 
damage  to  various  buildings. 

It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  these  sums  came  out 
of  the  pocket  of  the  British  tax-payer. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  THE  REBELLION  TO  THE  END  OF  1919. 

We  may  confine  our  record  of  conditions  in 
Ireland  from  the  rebellion  in  1916  to  the  end  of 
the  year  1919  to  an  examination  of  the 
growth  of  Republican  spirit  and  its  influence 
upon  British  interests,  especially  during  the 
continuance  of  the  War.  For  this  purpose  it  will 
be  better  to  quote  from  the  yearly  reports  of  the 
various  districts  than  to  attempt  an  historical 
development  of  the  period,  if  only  upon  the 
grounds  of  limitation  of  space.  Furthermore,  it 
is  perhaps  too  early  to  deal  historically  and  in 
correct  perspective  with  the  many  events  that  led 
up,  during  this  period,  to  the  state  of  Ireland 
during  1920.  Some  idea  of  the  tendencies  at 
work  in  the  country  may  be  gleaned  from  the 
extracts  from  the  official  reports  upon  the  state 
of  various  districts  which  are  quoted  below. 

We  may  begin  with  reports  for  that  part  of  the 
year  1916  which  followed  the  rebellion.  Here 
is  one  from  Dublin  : 


44     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

"  Of  political  societies  in  County  Dublin  the 
Unite'd  Irish  League  has  lost  a  good  deal  of  its 
influence,  and  its  meetings  are  few  and  far 
between.  The  National  Volunteers,  who  have  a 
nominal  membership  of  1,289,  are  a  waning  force 
and  many  of  them  would  break  away  and  join 
the  Sinn  Feiners  if  they  saw  it  was  to  their 
advantage  to  do  so ;  the  Irish  Volunteers,  though 
their  membership  is  small,  have  much  influence 
with  the  labouring  classes  and  shop-boys,  and 
through  their  relations  with  the  rebels  attract 
the  sympathies  of  the  disloyal.  .  .  .  After 
the  rebellion  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  attracted 
many  new  adherents,  including  some  of  the 
3^ounger  Roman  Catholic  clergy.  Recruiting  is 
bad." 

Here  are  some  reports  from  other  counties, 
which  also  deal  with  the  state  of  recruitment : 

"  The  main  result  of  the  rebellion,  so  far  as 
County  Kildare  was  concerned,  was  a  stoppage 
of  recruiting.  The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  rebellion,  and  thought 
it  politically  stupid.  In  some  cases  they  openly 
condemned  it.  .  .  .  Before  the  rebellion 
recruiting  was  very  fair,  and  in  some  districts 
decidedly  creditable;  after  the  rebellion  it  was 
distinctly  bad." 

"  Prior  to  the  rebellion  recruiting  in  County 
Kilkenny  was  satisfactory,  but  since  then  the 
number  of  recruits  has  diminished  to  about  eight 
or  ten  a  month." 

"  During  the  early  part  of  the  year  the  Sinn 
Fein  party  in  King's  County  became  active.    The 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     45 

Sinn  Feiners  at  Tullamore  were  very  truculent, 
and,  on  19th  March,  held  a  '  Flag  Day  '  to  raise 
money  for  the  purpose  of  buying  arms  to  resist 
conscription.  On  the  following  day  a  number  of 
Sinn  Feiners  began  jibing  and  jeering  at  soldiers 
returning  from  the  Front. ' ' 

The  prosperous  state  of  the  country  from  the 
agricultural  point  of  view  at  this  time,  owing  to 
war  conditions,  is  shown  by  the  following  : 

"  In  the  East  Riding  of  County  Cork,  as 
showing  the  prosperity  among  the  farming 
classes,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  deposits  in 
a  certain  bank,  which  has  its  head  office  in  Cork 
and  is  largely  a  farmers'  bank,  increased  by  the 
sum  of  one  and  a  half  millions  during  the  year." 

"  Recruiting  for  the  army  in  County  Kerry 
was  very  bad  during  the  year,  only  158  recruits 
having  been  obtained  out  of  a  population  of 
317,000." 

*'  The  feeling  of  the  people  generally  in  the 
East  Riding  of  County  Galway  was  one  of 
intense  indignation  at  the  action  of  the  rebels, 
particularly  as  it  was  felt  that  the  rebellion  was 
organised  in  Germany.  The  consequence  of  the 
rebellion  was,  however,  to  turn  most  of  the  people 
into  Sinn  Feiners,  or  at  least  into  Sinn  Fein 
sympathisers.  This  state  of  affairs  was  brought 
about  by  two  causes :  the  speeches  delivered  by 
Mr.  John  Dillon  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
the  action  of  the  Government  in  trying  to  effect  a 
Home  Rule  settlement  immediately  after  the 
rebellion,  thereby  convincing  the  majority  of  the 
people  that  constitutional  agitation  was  no  use 


46      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

and  that  the  Sinn  Fein  policy  of  physical  force  is 
the  only  means  of  remedying  alleged  grievances. 

These  extracts  from  the  official  reports  for  the 
year  1916  are  typical  of  those  received  from 
every  county  in  Ireland,  and  show  how  the 
evidence  of  life  in  the  Republican  movement, 
demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  the  rebellion  had 
been  possible,  impressed  the  people  of  Ireland 
and  strengthened  their  disinclination  to  serve  in 
the  British  Army  in  support  of  a  cause  of  which 
they  never  understood  the  rights  and  wrongs. 

The  reports  for  1917  demonstrate  the 
logical  sequence  of  this,  and  show  how  fear  of 
conscription  was  seized  upon  by  the  Republican 
organisers  to  secure  supporters  for  their  cause. 

"  On  the  19th  of  July  the  Countess  Markievicz 
was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  City  of 
Kilkenny.  She  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of 
Sinn  Fein  leaders,  and  advantage  was  taken  of 
the  occasion  to  deliver  a  number  of  violent  and 
disloyal  speeches.  The  death  of  the  sitting 
member  for  the  city  gave  rise  to  another  test  of 
strength  between  the  Sinn  Fein  and  Nationalist 
parties.  W.  T.  Cosgrave,  a  released  rebel 
prisoner,  was  selected  to  represent  the  former, 
and  John  Magennis,  an  ex-Mayor  of  the  city,  the 
latter.  The  compaign  was  carried  on  with  great 
vigour  during  the  latter  half  of  July  and  early 
part  of  August.  De  Valera  and  other  Sinn  Fein 
leaders  delivered  a  number  of  violent  speeches  in 
support  of  Cosgrave,  who  was  successful,  polling 
almost  two-thirds  of  the  entire  votes  recorded. 
Throughout   the   remainder    of   the   year    Sinn 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.    47 

Feinism  continued  to  make  progress,  and  at  the 
end  of  December  there  were  21  Sinn  Fein  clubs  in 
the  county,  with  a  membership  of  1,869,  an 
increase  of  15  clubs  and  1,290  in  membership 
sinc«  June." 

**  The  spread  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  did 
much  to  interfere  with  recruiting  in  Queen's 
Coimty.  Sinn  Fein  flags  were  put  up  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  rebellion,  and  to  celebrate  the 
return  of  Sinn  Fein  candidates.  In  connection 
with  the  first-mentioned  celebration,  there  was 
some  disturbance  at  Rathdowney,  where  a  Union 
Jack  was  pulled  down  and  torn  up  by  the 
crowd." 

"  The  number  of  persons  in  County  West- 
meath  who  sympathised  with  the  Sinn  Fein 
movement  was  large,  the  chief  reason  being  the 
belief  that  the  insurrection  of  the  previous  year 
saved  the  country  from  conscription." 

"  The  only  special  protection  afforded  in 
County  Wicklow  was  that  given  to  Mr.  John 
Redmond,  M.P.,  who  received  protection  by 
patrols  when  he  was  at  Aughavanagh." 

' '  County  Clare  was  quiet  up  to  the  beginning 
of  June,  but  at  the  same  time  disaffection  lurked 
under  the  surface  ready  to  break  out  on  very 
small  provocation.  In  June  there  was  great 
unrest  due  to  the  flooding  of  the  country 
with  Sinn  Feiners,  released  rebel  prisoners,  and 
canvassers  for  De  Valera,  the  Sinn  Fein 
candidate  for  the  parliamentary  vacancy  in  East 
Clare  caused  by  the  death  in  action  of  Major 
Redmond,  the  sitting  member.    The  Nationalist 


48     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

candidate  was  Mr.  P.  Lynch,  K.C.  Violent, 
disloyal,  and  inflammatory  speeches  were 
delivered  on  behalf  of  the  Sinn  Fein  candidate. 
The  turmoil  increased  with  the  approach  of  the 
election  day,  intimidation  was  freely  practised, 
and  there  was  a  growing  disregard  for  all  law 
and  order.  De  Valera's  statement  to  the  effect 
that  if  the  people  combined  they  could  make  the 
English  law  impossible,  and  that  English  law 
had  no  moral  or  legal  sanction  in  Ireland,  went 
a  long  way  in  bringing  about  this  state  of  affairs. 
De  Valera  was  successful  at  the  polls,  receiving 
5,010  votes  to  2,035  recorded  for  Lynch. 

"  De  Valera's  sweeping  success  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  Sinn  Fein  not  only  in  Clare  but 
throughout  the  entire  county,  and  numerous 
Sinn  Fein  clubs  were  formed  and  drilling  was 
taken  up  again.  ...  A  tendency  to  boycott 
persons  who  voted  for  Mr.  Lynch  at  the  election 
showed  itself.  During  October  the  condition  of 
the  county  was  bad  owing  to  the  growth  of  Sinn 
Feinism  and  revolutionary  ideas.  Drilling  was 
extensively  carried  on,  numerous  Sinn  Fein  clubs 
were  formed,  and  a  strong  spirit  of  disloyalty 
prevailed.  .  .  .  The  position  at  this  time  may 
be  summed  up  in  the  statement  that  Sinn  Fein 
held  the  field  and  was  practically  the  master  of 
the  situation." 

"  In  June  the  release  of  the  rebel  prisoners 
had  a  very  disturbing  effect  on  the  people  of 
Cork,  and  led  to  many  demonstrations  and  to 
serious  disturbances  in  the  city.  Sedition  and 
disaffection  increased  as  the  result  of  the  growth 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.    49 

of  Sinn  Feinism.  On  the  8th  July  a  number  of 
female  munition  workers  returning  in  brakes 
from  an  excursion  singing  patriotic  songs  were 
mobbed  in  the  city  by  Sinn  Feiners." 

In  Galway  the  movement  was  fostered  to  a 
considerable  extent  by  the  clergy.  '*  About  the 
middle  of  the  year  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  began 
to  make  headway  in  County  Galway,  owing 
mainly  to  the  action  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy,  who  are  nearly  all  ardent  Sinn  Feiners. 
The  action  of  the  clergy  led  to  some  friction  in 
the  town  of  Loughrea,  where  the  majority  of  the 
people  are  followers  of  Mr.  John  Redmond. 
Elsewhere  the  movement  caught  on,  especially 
among  the  young  men,  who  were  glad  of  any 
excuse  to  avoid  joining  the  Army. 
University  College,  Galway,  became  a  hotbed  of 
Sinn  Feinism,  which  the  students  took  no  trouble 
to  conceal." 

The  reports  for  1918  show  a  remarkable 
increase  in  the  activities  of  Sinn  Fein,  and  a 
growing  boldness  in  the  methods  employed  by 
the  organisation.  In  County  Clare  saw-mills 
working  for  Government  contracts  were  forcibly 
stopped,  and  trees  that  had  been  sold  or  were 
about  to  be  sold  for  Government  use  were  cut 
down  by  large  parties  of  men,  who  openly  stated 
they  would  allow  no  timber  to  leave  Ireland  for 
British  use.  Boycotting  was  not  generally 
resorted  to.  It  was  not  necessary.  The  people 
were  too  much  afraid  of  the  lawless  element  to 
risk  coming  under  its  displeasure. 

"  Intimidation  was  and  is  rampant  in  the 

E 


50     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

County  (Clare),"  states  another  report.  "  It  is 
done  secretly  and  takes  the  form  of  threatening 
letters,  attacks  on  houses,  and  firing  shots, 
sometimes  with  effect.  It  has  reached  such  a 
pitch  that  the  people  are  afraid  of  incurring  the 
displeasure  of  their  neighbours  or  the  Sinn  Fein 
leaders  in  their  locality.  Consequently  no 
evidence  can  be  obtained  in  cases  of  outrage. 

"  The  tone  of  the  local  press  is  now  Sinn  Fein, 
and  it  has  become  so  through  sheer  necessity,  as 
there  would  be  no  sale  for  the  papers  in  the 
county  otherwise.  The  owner  of  three  of  the 
papers  is  a  loyal  man  w4th  sons  serving  as  officers 
in  the  Army,  but  he  said  that  he  has  to  go  with 
the  times  or  he  might  shut  up  his  business." 

It  fact,  Sinn  Fein  was  now  paramount :  it  had 
gathered  to  itself  the  remaining  elements  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood. 

"  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  all  political  parties 
are  now  merged  in  Sinn  Fein.  Those  that  existed 
in  this  county — the  United  Irish  League,  the 
Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  the  Irish  National 
Volunteers,  the  Gaelic  Athletic  Association,  and 
the  Gaelic  League — have  all  been  inactive  for  a 
long  time.  All  their  members  are  now  Sinn 
Feiners  outwardly  if  not  inwardly." 

A  report  from  another  county  (Kerry) 
corroborates  this  : 

"  The  Volimteers  are  included  in  the  term 
Sinn  Fein  Movement,  as  they  are  entirely  Sinn 
Fein  and  are  the  backbone  of  the  movement.  The 
threatened  application  of  conscription  to  Ireland 
brought  in  a  great  volume  of  support  to  Sinn 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     51 

Fein.  It  was  the  only  political  party  directly 
opposed  to  recruiting  for  the  Army,  and  the  only 
political  organisation  showing  any  signs  of 
existence  at  the  time  the  Conscription  Bill  was 
passed.  The  people,  therefore,  flocked  to  its 
standard,  and  in  the  campaign  that  followed 
Sinn  Fein  took  the  lead  in  the  anti-conscription 
movement.  This  movement  embraced  all  sections 
of  the  community.  .  .  .  It  is  apparent  from 
its  literature  that  Sinn  Fein  was  the  driving 
force  at  the  back  of  the  movement,  and  all  the 
anti-conscription  platforms  were  in  reality  Sinn 
Fein." 

The  Gaelic  Athletic  Association,  primarily  an 
association  for  the  promotion  of  sports,  soon 
developed  into  an  adjunct  to  Sinn  Fein. 

**  Its  members  are  practically  all  Sinn  Feiners. 
It  exercises  considerable  influence  over  young 
men,  brings  them  together  for  football  matches, 
and  considerably  helps  to  foster  the  Sinn  Fein 
spirit  among  its  followers.  Similarly  the  Gaelic 
League,  ostensibly  an  organisation  for  promotion 
of  the  Irish  language,  is  now  a  purely  political 
organisation,  more  concerned  in  fostering  an 
anti-British  atmosphere  in  Ireland  by 
educational  means  than  the  promotion  of  the 
language  movement.  It  exercises  considerable 
influence  amongst  the  younger  generation,  and 
it  is  now  practically  impossible  for  a  young  man 
to  learn  the  Irish  language  without  at  the  same 
time  having  to  become  a  rebel.  The  Cumann  na 
m'Ban  is  a  female  offshoot  of  Sinn  Fein.  It  may 
correctly  be  stated  that  Sinn  Fein  has  captured 


52     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

all  the  political  organisations  in  the  county;  in 
other  words  the  members  have  deserted  to  Sinn 
Fein." 

In  the  West  Riding  of  County  Cork,  on  the 
announcement  that  conscription  would  be  applied 
to  Ireland,  an  outbreak  of  raiding  private 
houses  for  arms  took  place.  In  the  months  of 
April  and  May  there  were  29  such  cases  in  this 
Riding  alone.  From  their  similarity  and  the 
methods  employed  the  raids  appeared  to  be  the 
work  of  a  central  organisation.  The  victims 
selected  were  the  loyalist  population,  usually 
living  in  remote  places  and  therefore  the  more 
likely  to  be  intimidated. 

At  the  end  of  September,  County  Cork  West 
Riding  was  declared  by  the  Army  Council  to  be 
a  Special  Military  Area.  Special  restrictions 
were  forthwith  placed  on  certain  localities  where 
serious  and  organised  crime  had  occurred,  and 
other  steps  were  taken  to  suppress  disloyalty. 
Two  battalions  of  cyclists  were  brought  into  the 
Riding  and  detachments  were  quartered  in  each 
of  the  principal  to^vns,  and  from  there  the 
military  patrolled  in  every  direction.  The  effect 
on  the  Riding  of  these  restrictions  was 
remarkable.  In  the  first  nine  months  of  1918 
there  were  112  outrages,  of  which  59  were 
attributable,  in  the  opinion  of  the  police,  to  Sinn 
Fein.  In  the  last  three  months  of  1918  only 
21  outrages  were  committed,  and  only  two  of 
these  were  due  to  Sinn  Fein.  In  December  these 
crimes  numbered  six,  and  not  one  was  the  work 
of  Sinn  Fein.     It  is  a  striking  example  of  the 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     53 

effect  which  a  mild  system  of  military  control  can 
have  on  a  community. 

With  their  increase  in  strength,  Sinn  Fein  soon 
resorted  to  bolder  tactics.  An  attempt  to  murder 
two  policemen  in  the  streets  of  Tralee  was 
described  as  *'  a  most  daring  outrage  committed 
in  daylight  in  the  presence  of  over  a  hundred 
inhabitants,  who  were  too  terrified  to  interfere 
or  subsequently  identify  the  culprits." 

In  the  early  part  of  1918  Sinn  Fein  was  strong. 
De  Valera  had  been  elected  for  East  Clare  in 
July,  1917,  and  swept  the  country  with  Sinn 
Fein  ideas.  In  all  his  addresses  he  referred  to 
the  danger  of  conscription;  this,  no  doubt, 
caused  many  people  to  join — ^young  men  who  did 
not  want  to  fight,  young  women,  mothers — all 
of  whom  exercised  their  influence  in  the  one 
direction.  During  the  spring  of  1918  and  on 
into  the  summer  the  anti-conscription  movement 
was  strongly  taken  up  by  Sinn  Fein,  and  all  the 
leaders  and  the  clergy  spoke  against  it  and 
recommended  the  young  men  to  arm  and  die  at 
home  rather  than  die  in  France.  Large  sums  of 
money  were  collected  and  a  house-to-house 
collection  was  made.  In  short,  the  people 
believed  that  Sinn  Fein  alone  prevented 
conscription  in  Ireland.  And  it  must  be  added 
that  in  this  anti-conscription  movement  the 
reports  show  that  the  Irish  Nationalists  joined 
with  Sinn  Fein,  *'  and  have  remained  with 
them." 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Sinn  Fein  movement, 
"which  became  so  active  and  strong  during  this 


54     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

year  appeared  to  be  remarkably  well  supplied 
with  funds.  "  Hundreds  of  young  men  are 
practically  living  on  it,"  states  another  report. 
"  There  are  60  clubs  in  the  county,  and  the 
nominal  membership  is  6,500,  but  it  exercises  a 
greater  influence  than  this  membership  would 
indicate,  and  its  adherents,  including  men  and 
women  of  all  ages  and  classes,  probably  exceed 
five  times  that  fiumber." 

The  proposals  of  the  Government  to  put  in 
force  conscription  brought  matters  to  a  climax. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Hierarchy  took  up  the 
question  as  a  challenge,  and  at  once  proceeded  to 
make  its  position  clear.  In  Thurles  the 
Archbishop  of  Cashel  headed  a  procession  from 
the  Cathedral  to  the  Confraternity  Hall,  where, 
after  signing  the  anti-conscription  pledge,  he 
addressed  a  large  meeting,  calling  upon  the 
audience  to  oppose  the  plans  of  the  Government 
to  the  utmost,  and  denouncing  conscription  as  a 
"  blood-tax."  Some  of  the  clergy  preached 
openly  that  it  would  be  a  sinful  act  for  a  police- 
man to  assist  in  enforcing  conscription,  and  one 
of  them  "  told  his  congregation  that  each 
conscript  should  be  '  able  to  kill  at  least  three  or 
four  before  he  was  taken.'  "  Those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  Irish  in  Ireland  can  judge 
for  themselves  the  effect  which  such  a  pronounce- 
ment would  have  upon  the  congregation. 

The  arrest  of  Sinn  Fein  leaders  in  Dublin  in 
May  had  the  effect  of  nipping  in  the  bud  a 
dangerous  movement  by  the  revolutionaries  at  a 
time  when  it  was  believed  in  Ireland  that  the 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     55 

British  Forces  would  be  driven  out  of  France. 
Unfortunately  it  had  also  the  converse  effect  of 
strengthening  Sinn  Fein  by  creating  a  sympathy 
for  the  men  who  were  arrested. 

"  Sinn  Fein  was  never  more  highly  organised 
than  at  present,"  says  another  report.  "  Its 
members  are  very  enthusiastic  and  loyal  to  each 
other,  and  if  any  scheme  were  planned — ^no 
matter  how  ill-considered  or  fantastic  it  might 
be — men  would  be  readily  found  to  give  it  effect. 
For  the  present  the  young  men  are  carried  away 
by  what  we  should  consider  '  high-falutin  ' 
notions,  but  they  do  not  believe  them  to  be  such 
and  rely  strongly  on  the  belief  that  they 
are  within  reach  of  entire  independence  of 
England." 

In  King's  County  "  there  were  two  elections 
during  the  year.  At  each  election  the  Sinn  Fein 
candidate  was  returned  unopposed.  The  Irish 
Parliamentary  Party  could  not  have  succeeded  in 
returning  a  member  at  either  of  these  elections. 
At  the  same  time  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there 
are  a  large  number  of  moderate  men  who  have  no 
sympathy  with  Sinn  Fein,  especially  now  that 
the  dread  of  conscription  is  removed. 

"  It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  in 
this  county  the  police  have  acted  with  great 
firmness  in  the  matter  of  prosecutions  for  illegal 
drilling,  unlawful  assembly,  and  using  seditious 
language ;  but  it  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  Irish 
life  that  the  greater  the  firmness  displayed  the 
greater  their  popularity  with  the  mass  of  the 
country  people." 


56     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

In  County  Meath  the  Sinn  Fein  movement 
"  made  great  progress  during  the  year."  In 
addition  to  the  farmers  who  supported  it  in  the 
belief  that  it  would  be  the  means  of  staving  off 
conscription,  labourers  and  small-holders  rallied 
to  it  under  the  impression  that  it  would  '  *  become 
powerful  enough  to  compel  the  division  of  large 
grazing  farms  and  their  distribution  among  the 
landless  men."  Many  more  were  carried  away 
by  the  cry  :  '  Freedom  for  Ireland.'  It  must  be 
remembered  that  hostility  to  England  has  always 
been  more  or  less  ingrained  in  the  Irish  character. 
The  conversion  of  Mayo  to  Sinn  Fein  during  1918 
was  rapid.  "  Sinn  Fein,  which  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  found  scant  acceptance  generally  in 
County  Mayo,  has  now  become  first  in  the  field  and 
has  absorbed  or  crushed  all  its  rivals.  It  derived 
its  first  great  impetus  from  the  proposal  to  extend 
the  Military  Service  Act  to  Ireland.  The  young 
men  flocked  to  its  standards  in  thousands.  These 
it  rapidly  organised  and  banded  together,  and 
with  the  passing  of  the  conscription  dread,  which 
it  claimed  and  got  credit  for  staving  ofi,  it 
strengthened  its  hold  upon  its  members  and 
availed  itself  of  their  services  to  form  an  almost 
unrivalled  Electoral  Organisation,  resulting  at 
the  recent  General  Elections  in  the  complete 
discomfiture  of  its  political  rival.  It  now  holds 
the  four  seats  in  this  county;  three  by  virtue  of 
contests  and  one  a  walk-over.  It  has  probably 
from  four  to  five  adherents  to  one  of  the 
Parliamentary  Party.  The  young  men  had  not 
time  to  disintegrate  from  its  branches  before  the 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     57 

fever  of  the  election  was  upon  them,  and  they 
worked  tooth  and  nail  for  the  organisation  that 
saved  them  from  the  dreaded  conscription." 

In  Galway  the  action  of  the  clergy  is  again 
emphasised:  "  In  the  East  Riding  the  moment 
the  anti-conscription  movement  amalgamated  the 
clergy  and  Sinn  Fein,  the  former  appear  to  have 
thrown  off  all  restraint  and  indulged  in  the  most 
extreme  Sinn  Fein  propaganda,  utilizing  their 
position  as  priests  to  push  their  political 
opinions.  The  Sinn  Feiners  here,  as  in  other 
parts  of  Ireland,  took  a  prominent  part  in 
opposing  the  application  of  conscription  to 
Ireland,  and  the  failure  of  the  Government  to 
enforce  it  has  greatly  improved  the  position  of 
Sinn  Fein,  as  that  body  gets  the  chief  credit  for 
defeating  conscription.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
year  about  20  to  25  per  cent,  of  the  population 
were  Sinn  Feiners,  now  they  are  about  80  per 
cent." 

In  some  places  in  the  same  county  during  the 
General  Election  campaign,  when  followers  of 
the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party  attempted  to  hold 
meetings  "  they  were  hissed,  booed,  and  groaned 
at  by  the  Sinn  Feiners;  in  some  instances  they 
were  refused  a  hearing  altogether." 

The  following  figures  are  interesting,  as 
showing  the  growth  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement 
during  the  year. 


58     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

On  3l8t  December  1917.    On  31st  December  1918. 


Number  of  Number  of 
Clubs.       Members 

Number  of  Number  of 
Clubs.      Members. 

Ulster 

230 

12,534 

308 

24,103 

Leinster 

243 

15,125 

320 

23,234 

Connaught 

239 

14,917 

310 

26,317 

Mmister 

327 

23,694 

416 

38,426 

Totals 

1,039 

66,270 

1,354 

112,080 

That  the  Irish  Volunteers  meant  to  stop  at 
nothing  in  order  to  resist  conscription,  is  proved 
by  a  pamphlet  issued  by  their  Headquarters,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  copy. 

MEASURES      FOR     COMBATING      CONSCRIPTION. 

I.  Preventive   Measures. 

**  The  only  preventive  measure  is  the  working 
up  of  all  public  opinion  against  Conscription, 
unifying  that  public  opinion  and  giving  it  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  publicity  both 
national  and  international.  The  greater  the 
uproar  and  publicity  created  and  the  more  the 
international  character  of  the  matter  is 
emphasised,  the  less  likely  is  the  Government  to 
try  to  enforce  it. 

"  The  following  means  of  arousing  public 
opinion  and  securing  publicity  should  be  resorted 
to.  (1)  Pronouncements  against  Conscription 
by  the  Clergy,  (2)  resolutions  by  public  bodies, 
Trades   Unions,    and   public   meetings   against 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     59 

Conscription,  (3)  securing  the  support  of  the  daily 
Press  and  of  the  local  Press  through  the  country, 
(4)  insisting  on  Members  of  Parliament  opposing 
it,  (5)  letters  in  the  Press  and  pronouncements 
by  public  men,  (6)  circulation  of  anti- 
conscription  leaflets  in  various  ways. 

II.  Evasive   Measures. 

"  Only  in  towns  would  enforcement  of 
Conscription  be  at  all  feasible;  consequently  all 
men  of  military  age  should  as  far  as  possible 
leave  the  towns.  Shop  assistants  and  others 
should  make  provision  to  return  to  their  homes 
in  the  country.  It  should  be  made  quite 
clear  to  employers  that  the  enforcement  of 
Conscription  would  entail  the  dislocation  of  their 
business,  and  they  should  be  compelled  to  agitate 
against  it  as  a  body.  Similarly,  dues  might  be 
withheld  from  Clergymen  who  did  not  protest 
against  it. 

III.  Militant   Measures. 

"  The  Irish  Volunteers  afford  the  only  unified 
basis  of  resistance  to  conscription.  The  rest  of 
the  population  should  set  about  co-operation  with 
them  in  the  most  effective  way,  (1)  all  men  of 
military  age  should  at  once  join  the  Volunteers, 
(2)  all  householders  and  others  in  a  similar 
position  should  render  the  Volunteers  all  material 
assistance  in  their  power.  Those  who  do  not  do 
so  voluntarily  should  be  compelled,   (3)  women 


60      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

and  children  could  be  used  for  carrying 
information,  cooking,  etc.  In  general  the 
method  of  opposition  to  conscription  in  any 
district  would  be  determined  by  the  local 
circumstances,  and  in  particular  by  the  extent  to 
which  the  district  was  organised  for  such 
purposes. 

IV.  Tactical   Measures. 

"  To  attack  troops  or  police  would  be  a 
mistaken  policy.  The  method  adopted  should 
be  to  act  in  small  numbers  in  suitable  localities, 
thus  compelling  the  authorities  to  disperse  in 
search  of  them.  The  English  Conscripts  who 
would  be  employed  to  enforce  the  measure  are  all 
town-bred,  and  would  be  at  great  disadvantage  in 
such  cases. 

"  Destruction  of  communications  should  be 
carried  out  as  systematically  as  possible. 

' '  Telegraphs  and  Telephones  can  be  destroyed 
by  (a)  removing  the  instruments  in  County  Post 
Offices,  {h)  throwing  a  stone  at  the  end  of  a  rope 
across  the  wires  near  pole,  and  bawling  them 
down,  (c)  quietly  cutting  wires  in  obscure  places. 

"  Railways  can  be  rendered  useless  for  a  time 
by  {a)  rolling  down  boulders  or  felling  trees  in 
a  cutting  or  tunnel,  (h)  lifting  a  section  of  line — 
which  should  be  done  at  a  curve  (c)  jamming 
points  at  quiet  spots  and  wrecking  Signal  Boxes, 
(d)  removing  vital  parts  of  locomotives,  {e) 
inducing  Railway  employees  to  go  on  strike. 

"  Roads  can  be  made  useless  by  {a)  barricades 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     61 

of  difierent  kinds,  (b)  systematically  destroying 
motor-cars,  bicycles  and  stores  of  petrol.  All 
these  demolitions  should  be  done  as  often  and 
in  as  many  places  as  possible.  Any  considerable 
gain  in  time  from  these  causes  would  be  of 
extreme  value. 

' '  Always  when  possible  fighting  by  day  should 
be  avoided.  Fighting  by  night  in  familiar 
localities  would  offer  advantages. 

*  *  No  kind  of  weapon  should  be  despised ; 
certain  farming  implements  can  be  turned  into 
formidable  weapons.  Thus  (a)  a  hay  fork  is 
quite  as  good  as  a  rifle  and  bayonet  in  hand-to- 
hand  fighting,  (b)  a  billhook,  axe,  graip,  spade 
or  sledge-hammer,  though  inferior  to  a  hay  fork 
may  be  formidable  in  close  fighting  at  night,  (c) 
a  scythe-blade  securely  lashed  with  wire  to  a  pole 
is  equal  to  a  hay  fork. 

"  Sometimes  it  will  be  possible  to  destroy  a 
body  of  troops  by  a  stone  shoot,  from  which  a 
concentrated  shower  of  great  stones  would  be 
discharged  from  a  height. 

* '  Every  firearm  should  be  utilized ;  a  volley  of 
bird-shot  in  the  face  of  a  motor-driver  will  wreck 
his  car  and  stop  any  cars  following  it;  so,  too, 
with  rook  rifles  and  revolvers.  Good  rifles 
should  be  given  to  the  best  shots. 

Supplies  of  Material,  etc. 

"  Additional  strong  boots,  warm  overcoats 
and  the  like  should  be  laid  in.  Bicycles  and 
bicycle   accessories   should   be   procured   in   the 


62      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

largest  possible  quantities.  Preserved  foods 
should  be  procured  in  as  large  quantities  as 
possible.  Any  not  able  to  be  secured  should  be 
destroyed — the  same  rule  applies  to  arms  of  all 
kinds. 

"  Of  other  materials  supplies  of  barbed  and 
plain  wire,  nails  and  staples,  hammers,  saws, 
and  axes  would  be  useful  for  many  purposes,  and 
stores  of  these  should  be  laid  in." 

In  the  Reports  for  the  year  1919  we  find 
evidence  of  the  consolidation  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
organisation  and  of  the  evolution  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  or  Irish  Republican  Army  as  this 
body  now  begins  to  be  termed,  as  a  force 
definitely  at  war  with  the  Forces  of  the  Crown. 

The  statistics  of  Indictable  Offences  (other 
than  those  due  to  agrarian  causes)  for  the  whole 
of  Ireland  demonstrate  the  growth  of  the 
Republican  Campaign.  The  following  is  an 
extract  of  these  statistics. 


NATURE  OF  CHIME. 

Murder 

Firing  at  the  Person    ... 
Assault  with  intent  to  murder 
Threatening  letters  or  notices 
Intimidation  otherwise  •. 
Injury  to  property 
Firing  into  dwellings    ... 
Unlawful   assembly 

Injury  to,  or  attempt  to  injure 
or  obstruct  Railway  Trains  or 
Highways 


1917. 

1918. 

1919 

11 

10 

26 

23 

37 

50 

3 

2 

11 

98 

130 

246 

11 

16 

51 

215 

285 

671 

28 

29 

58 

0 

1 

19 

13 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     63 

Some  interesting  reasons  of  a  set-back  in  the 
popularity  of  Sinn  Fein  during  1919  are  given  in 
a  report  from  County  Kildare. 

"  Sinn  Fein,  to  a  certain  extent,  got  a  set  back 
in  not  being  able  to  obtain  a  hearing  at  the  Peace 
Conference,  and  locally  it  lost  power  for  two 
reasons.  First,  its  opposition  to  hunting  in  the 
Spring,  to  which  the  Hunt  Club  retaliated  by 
stopping  Punchestown  Races  which  are  greatly 
appreciated  and  are  a  sort  of  County  holiday. 
Secondly,  the  labour  strike  in  many  cases  found 
Sinn  Fein  labourers  opposed  to  Sinn  Fein 
employers  and  Sinn  Fein  tradesmen,  and  the 
bad  feeling  that  occurred  has  not  in  some  cases 
been  forgotten.  During  the  strike  Sinn  Fein 
employers  were  of  necessity  on  the  same  side  as 
Nationalist  and  Unionist  employers  and  are  still 
more  or  less  bound  up  with  them  over  the  labour 
question. 

* '  It  is  believed  that  if  a  General  Election  were 
held  to-morrow,  Sinn  Fein  would  not  sweep  the 
polls  as  it  did  in  1918.  The  more  level-headed 
Sinn  Feiners  are  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
outrages  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  though  many 
of  the  young  hot-heads  are." 

County  Meath  also  reports  a  lull  in  the 
outward  and  visible  growth  of  Sinn  Fein  during 
1919.  **  Sinn  Fein  cannot  be  said  to  have  made 
any  marked  progress  during  the  year.  .  .  . 
It  is,  however,  probable  that  there  are  a  larger 
number  of  people  imbued  with  Sinn  Fein 
tendencies  than  in  1918.  The  hope  of 
active   assistance   from   America   in   obtaining 


64     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

independence,  which  in  many  people's  minds 
means  release  from  the  present  increased  burden 
of  taxation,  is  probably  responsible  for  this. 
Patriotism  and  national  aspirations  have  little 
influence,  except  amongst  a  very  small  class." 

It  is  in  the  Provinces  of  Munster  and 
Connaught  that  we  find  the  greatest  development 
of  Republican  tendencies  during  this  year. 

In  the  East  Riding  of  County  Galway  "  The 
Sinn  Fein  movement  has  advanced  considerably 
during  the  year,  the  large  majority  of  the  people 
are  Sinn  Feiners,  and  the  few  who  are  not 
are  afraid  to  lift  hand  or  voice  against  the 
movement." 

In  the  West  Riding  of  the  same  county 
' '  During  the  year  the  Riding  was  in  a  disturbed 
and  unsatisfactory  condition.  In  many  cases 
where  persons  were  brought  to  justice  for 
breaches  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Regulations 
during  the  year  they  declined  to  recognise  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Court,  stating  that  they  were 
soldiers  of  the  Irish  Republic  and  could  not 
recognise  the  law  of  any  foreign  Grovernment. 
In  one  case  where  a  man  was  convicted  and  bound 
to  the  peace  for  an  offence  against  the  Defence  of 
the  Realm  Regulations,  because  he  gave  the 
required  bail  for  his  future  good  behaviour  he 
was  expelled  from  the  local  Sinn  Fein  club  for 
three  months. 

"  The  police  are  looked  upon  with  grave 
suspicion,  and  marked  unfriendliness  is  shown 
to  them  in  many  places.  The  people  are  not 
inclined  to  give  them  any  assistance,  and  even 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     65 

persons  upon  whom  outrages  have  been 
committed  are  not  disposed  to  give  the  police 
any  information  which  might  lead  to  the 
discovery  of  the  perpetrators  of  the  outrages, 
fearing  that  by  so  doing  further  outrages  would 
be  committed  upon  themselves  or  their  property, 
and  on  the  whole  the  police  are  receiving  no 
support  from  the  people  in  the  Riding." 

"  In  County  Clai'e  Sinn  Fein  was  practically 
supreme  at  the  opening  of  the  year  (1919). 
.  .  .  Its  policy  held  full  sway,  and  no  person 
'dare  act  openly  in  opposition,  except  in  the  towns 
of  Ennis  and  Kilrush.  A  regular  system  of 
terrorism  was  instituted  against  all  persons 
opposing  it,  with  the  result  that  the  Sinn  Fein 
sway  was  tacitly  acquiesced  in  by  roughly  80 
per  cent,  of  the  population  of  the  County.  Sinn 
Fein  has  established  Courts  to  settle  disputes, 
and  the  people  abide  by  their  decisions  in  nearly 
all  cases." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  signs  were  not 
wanting  that  the  turbulent  situation  was  getting 
beyond  the  oflScial  control  of  Sinn  Fein.  "  Their 
followers  began  committing  outrages  for  their 
own  private  ends,  using  the  name  of  Sinn  Fein 
as  a  lever,"  states  another  report.  "  It  is  not 
>  improbable  that  Sinn  Fein  may  find  that  it  has 
let  loose  a  spirit  of  unrest  which  may  be  a  factor 
in  breaking  its  own  power." 

"  The  West  Riding  of  County  Cork  has  been 
in  a  disturbed  condition  during  the  whole  of 
1919, .  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  matters 
have  got  worse.       The  condition  of  things  is 

F 


66     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

directly  attributable  to  Sinn  Fein  and  the  Irish 
Volunteers.  A  system  of  universal  terrorism 
exists,  and  this  prevents  the  law-abiding  section 
of  the  community  from  asserting  itself  or  even 
assisting  the  authorities  in  maintaining  the 
supremacy  of  the  law  and  bringing  offenders  to 
justice.  The  principal  efforts  of  Sinn  Fein  and 
the  Irish  Volunteers  are  directed  against  the 
R.I.C.,  whom  they  regard  as  the  chief  obstacle 
in  their  path,  and  who  are  now  working  under  a 
strain  which  is  almost  unbearable.  Their 
numbers  are  too  small  to  deal  with  the  existing 
state  of  things,  and  everything  possible  is  being 
done  by  the  Sinn  Feiners  and  Irish  Volunteers  to 
break  their  spirit.  The  ordinary  processes  of 
the  law  are  useless  now.  The  people  in  general 
will  not  give  evidence  in  criminal  cases,  fearing 
attack.  The  result  is  that  the  lawless  section 
cormnit  crime  and  outrage  with  comparative 
impunity,  and  police  inquiries  as  to  their 
movements  are  met  with  a  refusal  to  answer  any 
questions  or  make  any  statements.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  police  are  fighting  with  their 
hands  tied  and  can  achieve  very  little  success  in 
spite  of  much  hard  work.  No  hope  of  any 
improvement  under  present  conditions  is 
anticipated. 

"  The  members  of  the  Sinn  Fein  organisa- 
tion are  usually  young  people  filled  with 
revolutionary  ideas,"  the  same  report  continues. 
'  *  Farmers  and  shopkeepers  are  opposed  to  these 
ideas,  but,  fearing  the  consequences,  lack  the 
moral   courage   to   express   their   true   opinions 


FROM  REBELLION  TO  END  OF  1919.     67 

publicly.  The  activities  of  Sinn  Fein  and  the 
Irish  Volunteers  are  now  carried  on  secretly- 
owing  to  the  proclamations  suppressing  them*. 
The  police  in  the  Riding  have  done  their  best 
to  make  the  proclamations  effective,  and  have 
prosecuted  and  convicted  a  large  number  of 
persons  who  were  trying  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
these  two  societies.  The  Irish  Volunteers  are 
well  organised  in  the  Riding,  and  represent  the 
striking  force  of  Sinn  Fein  for  purposes  of 
violence  and  outrage.  On  13th  August  1919  a 
training  camp  of  the  Irish  Volunteer  leaders  in 
the  Riding,  assembled  at  Glandore.  It  was 
raided  and  dispersed  by  a  large  force  of  military 
and  police,  and  five  of  the  ringleaders  received 
terms  of  imprisonment.  I  am  afraid  this 
organisation  has  a  strong  hold  on  young  men  in 
this  Riding.  .  .  .  It  is  responsible  for  the 
attacks  on  police  and  soldiers  and  arms  raids 
which  take  place  from  time  to  time." 

Much  the  same  is  reported  from  the  South 
Riding  of  Tipperary.  '*  Crime  has  increased  of 
late  to  an  almost  alarming  extent.  The 
beginning  of  the  year  was  marked  by  the  wanton 
murders  of  two  constables  escorting  explosives  by 
men  masked  and  armed. t  .  .  .  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  state  of  things  that  has  led  to 
the  terrorism  of  the  whole  country-side.  .  . 
The  terrorists  are  yoimg  men,  many  of  them  tools 
in  the  hands  of  more  designing  rascals." 

*  These  Proclamatious  were  made  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
irom  time  to  time  under  the  Act  of  1881.       (See  page  188.) 

t  ThiB  was  the  Solo  Head  Beg  outrage.      (See  page  142.) 


68     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

The  figures  of  membership  of  Sinn  Fein  Clubs 
on  the  31st  December  1919  are  as  follows. 


Ulster 

Number  of 
Clubs. 

354 

Number  of 
Members. 

26,185 

Leinster 

342 

24,315 

Connaught 
Munster 

325 
433 

29,022 
39,127 

Totals    1,454     .         118,649 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  these  statistics 
*  Ulster  '  includes  the  whole  geographical 
province,  not  only  the  '  Six  Counties  '  which 
form  the  Ulster  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920. 

In  the  two  previous  chapters  something  has 
been  shown  of  the  forces  which  were  at  work  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1920.  On  the  one 
hand  stood  Irish  Republicanism,  represented  by 
Sinn  Fein  and  its  subsidiary  organisations, 
working  through  sedition,  outrage,  and  alliance 
with  the  enemies  of  the  Empire  towards  an 
impossible  ideal — an  Irish  Republic.  On  the 
other  hand  stood  the  Government,  anxious  to  find 
a  settlement  of  the  age-long  Irish  Question  which 
should  be  acceptable  to  the  majority  of  Irishmen, 
and  determined  at  the  same  time  to  fulfil  its  duty 
of  restoring  law  and  order  to  a  distracted 
country. 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  even  apart  from 
the  obvious  impossibility  of  allowing  the 
establishment  of  an  admittedly  hostile  Republic 
at  the  gateway  of  Europe,  the  majority  of  the 
Irish  people  would  not  welcome  a  solution  of  the 
Irish  Question  which  involved  the  detachment  of 
Ireland  from  the  British  Empire.  The  status 
of  an  Independent  nation  would  undoubtedly 
appeal  to  Irish  sentiment,  but  nations  cannot 
exist  upon  sentiment  alone,  and  the  material 
advantages  of  partnership  in  the  Empire  make  a 


70     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

stronger  appeal  to  the  mind  of  an  agricultural 
community  than  even  sentiment.  The  problem 
before  the  Government  v^as  therefore  the 
restoration  of  law  and  order,  and  particularly 
the  suppression  of  the  campaign  of  murder  and 
terrorism,  while  at  the  same  time  proceeding 
with  a  measure  of  Home  Rule  which  would 
satisfy  the  inarticulate  majority,  whose 
existence  was  screened  by  the  conspicuous 
activities  of  the  extremists.  The  history  of 
Ireland  in  1920  will  show  the  details  of  the 
problem  and  the  measures  taken  for  its  solution. 
The  year  opened  with  the  Municipal  Elections, 
in  which  Sinn  Fein  once  more  asserted  its  hold 
upon  the  South  and  West.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  however,  that  these  elections  did  not  give 
a  true  indication  of  the  real  political  aspirations 
of  the  people.  By  its  methods  of  intimidation 
and  propaganda  Sinn  Fein  secured  many  votes 
which  it  would  othervrise  have  lost,  and  certainly 
succeeded  in  preventing  the  recording  of  votes 
adverse  to  it.  But  the  result  of  the  elections 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  causes  that  led  to 
the  intensifying  of  the  campaign  of  murder  and 
outrage.  The  Irish  Volunteers,  from  their 
Headquarters  to  individual  officers,  felt  not  so 
much  that  they  had  the  sympathy  of  the  people 
behind  them,  but  that  their  influence  was  such 
that  their  numbers  were  secure  from  capture, 
because  the  majority  of  the  people  would  not 
dare  to  report  their  actions  to  the  police.  A 
man  who  had  committed  a  crime  would  be  safe 
so  long  as  he  continued  "  on  the  run."       He 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      71 

could  move  about  from  place  to  place,  secure  in 
the  knowledge  that  the  local  inhabitants  would 
not  only  refrain  from  revealing  his  whereabouts 
to  the  police,  but  would  afford  him  food  and 
shelter  for  so  long  a  time  as  he  cared  to  billet 
himself  upon  them.  And  it  was  this  sense  of 
security  which  alone  made  the  continuance  of  the 
outrage  campaign  possible. 

Events  showed  that  even  in  the  capital  city 
of  the  country  the  escape  of  murderers  was 
connived  at  by  the  population.  On  the  21st  of 
January  Assistant  Commissioner  Redmond,  of 
the  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police,  was  murdered 
while  walking  through  the  streets  of  Dublin  from 
his  office  at  the  Castle  to  the  Standard  Hotel, 
where  he  was  staying.  Two  shots  were  fired  at 
him  in  Har court  Street,  and  he  fell  mortally 
wounded.  After  the  shots  had  been  fired,  two 
men  were  seen  running  away  from  the  scene, 
but  no  attempt  was  made  to  stop  them.  Mr. 
Redmond  was  a  native  of  Newry,  County  Down, 
and  had  been  fifteen  years  with  the  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary  in  Belfast,  as  an  officer  in  the 
Detective  Department.  He  had  recently  been 
transferred  to  Dublin,  and  his  murder  was 
undoubtedly  part  of  a  campaign  to  assassinate 
anyone  who  might  be  suspected  of  endeavouring 
to  imearth  the  threads  of  the  murder-gangs. 
He  left  a  widow  and  two  daughters.  At  the 
inquest,  the  jury  found  a  verdict  as  follows  : 
'  *  That  deceased  died  from  the  effects  of  a  bullet, 
and  we  find  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder  against 
some  person  or  persons  unknown.     We  wish  to 


72     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

express  our  abhorrence  of  the  dastardly  outrage, 
and  tender  our  deepest  sympathy  to  the  relatives 
of  the  deceased." 

On  the  22nd  January,    1920,    the   following 
statistics  of  outrages  were  officially  issued  : 

OUTRAGES     ATTRIBUTED     TO     SINN     FEIN. 


Official  Returns  from  1st  May,  1916,  to  31st  December,  1919. 


Murder. 


S5  3 


Firinc 
at  the 
Person, 


Oh       S 


Assaults 


Raids  for  Highvcay 

Robbery  of, 

Burslary  for,  and 

Larceny  of  Arms, 

AmmnnitioD,  and 

ExplosiTes, 


3 


Firing 

Into 

Dvr'llings 


o    .£ 

A,     O 


1  —     2 


(inclucl 
6     ljl5     4     233     4 


3     5 


1   — '  5     2     3 


11     129     7     7 


4     1 


6     7 


Ulster 

I     5       40 

Leinstkr 

ing  D.M.P.  Di 

6  20     127 

CONNAUGHT 
—      5         ^ 

Monster 
13  37     275 


lo     40 

—  — 

strict) 
14     48 

—     4 

11     39 

1     9 

30  152 

2  25 

30 


36 


105 


13 


115 


28 


54 


134 


429 


205 


761 


18     2 


50  13  14 


46  17 


Totals 
20  67     502 


70  279 


3  38 


180 


210 


1529 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      73 

On  25th  January  a  Proclamation  was  issued 
from  Dublin  Castle  offering  a  reward  of  £10,000 
(double  the  amount  previously  offered)  for 
evidence  to  convict  any  of  the  offenders  in  five 
cases  of  murder  of  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police 
and  nine  cases  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary. 

One  thousand  pounds  was  offered  for  secret 
information. 

The  Proclamation  gave  the  following  names 
of  thfe  victims  : — 

D.M.P. 

Detective  Sergeant  Patrick  Smith. 

Detective  Constable  Daniel  Hoey. 

Constable  Michael  Dovming. 

Sergeant  John  Barton. 

Assistant  Commissioner  W.  C.  Redmond. 

R.I.C. 

Constable  J.  McDonnell,  Co.  Tipperary. 
Constable  Patrick  O' Council,  Co.  Tipperary. 
Constable  Martin  O'Brien,  Co.  Limerick. 
District  Inspector  Michael  Hunt,  Thurles. 
Sergeant  John  Riordan,  Co.  Clare. 
Constable  Michael  James  Murphy,  Co.  Clare. 
Constable  William  Agar,  Ballivor. 
Constable  E.  Bolger,  Co.  Cork. 
Constable  Luke  Finnegin,  Thurles. 

During  the  early  morning  of  31st  January,  a 
raid  was  made  by  the  police,  supported  by  troops. 


74     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

with  the  object  of  arresting  certain  prominent 
Sinn  Feiners,  who  were  suspected  of  seditious 
acts.  The  raid  took  place  simultaneously  in  the 
City  of  Dublin  and  the  counties  Cork,  Tipperary, 
Limerick,  and  Clare.  Some  fifty  men  in  all  were 
arrested  and  imprisoned. 

In  February  the  Curfew  Order  was  made  in  the 
Dublin  Metropolitan  Police  District  by  the 
Competent  Military  Authority  under  the  Defence 
of  the  Realm  Regulations.  This  Order,  which 
was  dated  20th  February,  came  into  force  on  the 
23rd.  It  required  every  person  within  the 
Dublin  Metropolitan  Police  District  to  remain 
indoors  within  the  hours  of  12  o'clock  midnight 
and  5  o'clock  a.m.  unless  provided  with  a 
permit  in  writing  from  the  Competent  Military 
Authority  or  some  person  duly  authorised  by  him. 
Permits  were  granted  to  clergymen,  registered 
medical  practitioners,  and  nurses  engaged  on 
urgent  duties.  A  warning  was  attached  to  the 
Order  to  the  effect  that  "  every  person  abroad 
between  the  hours  mentioned  in  the  Order,  wh^i 
challenged  by  any  policeman,  or  by  any  officer, 
non-commissioned  officer  or  soldier  on  duty,  must 
immediately  halt  and  obey  orders  given  to  him, 
and,  if  he  fails  to  do  so,  it  will  be  at  his  own 
peril." 

This  Order  had  the  required  effect  of  keeping 
undesirable  people  off  the  streets  at  night.  The 
hours  included  under  the  Order  were  varied  from 
time  to  time  according  to  the  hours  of  darkness. 

On  5th  March  the  Viceroy  inspected  detach- 
ments  of    the    Royal    Irish    Constabulary    and 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      75 

Dublin  Metropolitan  Police,  and  awarded 
decorations  for  bravery  and  distinguished 
service.  His  Excellency's  speech  on  this  occasion 
throws  a  very  clear  light  upon  the  conditions 
existing  at  that  time.  Here  are  some  extracts 
from  it : — 

'  *  I  am  glad  that  it  has  been  possible  to  hold  a 
joint  parade  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  and 
the  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police.  Both  forces 
have  been  fighting  with  the  utmost  gallantry 
against  a  common  foe  who  are  sworn  enemies  of 
law,  order,  and  government,  and  whose  cowardly 
and  diabolical  methods  have  put  the  courage, 
tenacity  and  endurance  of  the  police  forces  to  the 
highest  test. 

'*  I  trust  that  the  trying  time  through  which 
the  two  forces  have  passed  during  the  last  few 
years,  the  splendid  work  they  have  done  together 
and  the  credit  for  Irish  loyalty  which  they  have 
thus  maintained,  will  ever  bind  them  in  bonds  of 
mutual  regard  and  comradeship. 

**  On  more  than  one  occasion  during  the  last 
two  years  I  took  the  opportunity  to  warn  you 
that  you  would  certainly  be  subjected  to  still 
greater  tests  of  your  loyalty,  devotion  and 
courage.  The  autumn  and  winter  which  have 
just  passed  by  have  proved  clearly  that  these 
warnings  were  not  unnecessary. 

' '  The  most  determined  efforts  have  been  made 
to  undermine  your  loyalty.  Many  of  your 
comrades  have  been  foully  murdered  in  the  dark, 
and   outrages   of   every   description   have   been 


76     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

directed  against  the  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police. 
As  regards  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  your 
barracks  have  been  subjected  to  violent  attacks  in 
all  parts  of  the  country,  by  men  who  sometimes 
could  be  counted  in  hundreds,  and  v^ho  were 
well  armed  with  revolvers,  rifles,  bombs,  and 
explosives. 

"  During  the  last  six  months  some  thirty  or 
forty  of  these  attacks  have  been  made,  but  in 
nearly  every  case  they  have  been  gallantly 
repulsed  by  a  handful  of  disciplined,  determined, 
brave  men. 

"  You  have  had  the  most  terrible  disabilities 
to  contend  against.  Police  barracks  in  Ireland 
were  never  built  with  a  view  to  defence  against 
such  numbers  and  such  weapons.  Many  of  them 
were  erected  a  long  time  ago,  so  that  buildings, 
and  even  whole  villages,  have  grown  up  round 
them,  which  renders  their  effective  defence  a 
matter  of  the  utmost  difficulty. 

"  Another  terrible  drag  on  you  has  been  the 
impossibility  of  inducing  people  who  are  other- 
wise loyal  to  come  forward  and  give  information 
to  establish  the  guilt  of  these  men. 

"  And  here  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  the 
words  which  were  used  by  a  great  Irish  judge 
and  lawyer,  Lord  Justice  O'Connor,  in  his  able 
charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  in  Clare.  The  Lord 
Justice  said  : — 

'  What    gives    more    reason    for    grave 

reflection  is  the  fact  that  the  Government 

have  not  the  active  co-operation  of  the  people 

in  putting  down  crime  of  this  sort.       The 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      77 

vast  majority  of   the   people,    as  I   think, 

disapprove    of    crime,    but    they    do    not 

help  to  stop  it.     It  is  an  extraordinary  and 

anomalous  state  of  affairs,  without  a  parallel 

amongst    any    other    of    the    w^hite    races 

inhabiting  the  British  Empire.' 

"  Before  I  conclude  let  me  once  more  repeat 

what    I    have    so    often    told    you — the    Irish 

Government  are  just  as  determined  as  ever  they 

were  to  crush  these  forces  which  are  fighting 

against  law  and  order,  and  I  can  assure  you  that 

no  effort  will  be  spared,  and  no  sacrifice  will  be 

considered  too  great  to  give  you  every  possible 

help  and  support  in  carrying  on  this  great  work. 

I  feel  sure  that  you  will  not  allow  the  threats 

and  intimidation  which  are  flung  broadcast  all 

over  the  country  to  influence  you,  or  to  turn  you 

away  from  the  performance  of  your  duties." 

During  the  month  of  March  the  Assizes  were 
held  throughout  the  country,  and  the  importance 
of  justice  in  the  face  of  almost  universal 
terrorism  became  manifest.  So  great  was  the 
intimidation  practised  that  juries  could  not  be 
secured,  witnesses  dared  not  come  forward  to 
give  their  testimony,  and  in  many  cases  the  police 
could  not  secure  evidence  against  the  perpetrators 
of  crime. 

Lord  Justice  Ronan,  in  his  address  to  the 
Grand  Jury  on  the  opening  of  North  Tipperary 
Assizes,  said  there  were  only  three  trivial 
cases,  arising  out  of  a  trade  dispute,  for  their 
consideration.    If  these  trivial  cases  were  not  to 


78      ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

go  before  them  they  should  have  the  mockery  of 
his  being  presented  with  white  gloves,  supposed 
to  show  that  the  county  was  free  from  crime 
and  in  an  almost  satisfactory  condition.  He 
regretted  to  say  that  the  figures  and  facts 
supplied  to  him  by  the  authorities  told  a  far 
different  story.  In  the  corresponding  period  last 
year  there  were  8  specially  reported  cases, 
and  the  number  and  class,  taken  on  the  whole, 
were  such  as  one  would  naturally  expect  in  a 
large  commimity,  but  in  the  corresponding  period 
this  year,  for  the  number  8  they  should 
substitute  the  number  49,  an  increase  of  41. 
Moreover,  these  cases  included  2  murders,  2 
attempts  to  murder,  3  cases  of  wounding, 
4  cases  of  robbery,  and  attempts  to  rob,  3 
cases  of  arson,  3  reports  of  killing  and 
maiming  cattle,  13  cases  of  malicious  injury,  12 
of  threatening  letters,  4  raids  for  arms,  2 
attacks  on  police  barracks,  and  1  incident  of 
firing  into  a  dwelling-house.  This  Lord  Justice 
Ronan  characterised  as  a  terrible  record  of  crime, 
and  added  that  their  County  Inspector  had  told 
him  it  extended  practically  over  the  whole 
Riding,  but  that  perhaps  the  worst  area  was  that 
around  Thurles.  Dealing  with  the  fact  that  no 
one  had  been  made  amenable  for  these  crimes,  he 
said  it  was  obvious  that  there  could  be  but  two 
causes  :  one  was  that  the  people  sympathised  with 
crime  and  the  other  that  the  community  was  so 
terrorised  that  no  one  dared  give  evidence. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  North  Tipperary  was 
typical  of  that  existing  over  a  great  part  of  the 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      79 

country,  and  many  judges  placed  on  record 
opinions  similar  to  those  of  Lord  Justice  Ronan. 
It  became  evident  that  steps  must  be  taken  to 
secure  the  operation  of  justice  by  some  other 
procedure  than  that  of  a  Court  of  Law. 

During  the  night  of  March  19th  there  occurred 
an  incident  which  produced  a  deep  sensation 
throughout  Ireland,  the  facts  of  which  have 
never  yet  been  satisfactorily  determined.  The 
Lord  Mayor  of  Cork  at  this  time  was  Alderman 
MacCurtain,  a  man  of  advanced  Republican 
views.  He  had  taken  a  leading  part  in 
organising  the  Irish  Republican  Army  in  Cork, 
was  implicated  in  the  rising  of  Easter  Week, 
1916,  and  had  been  arrested  and  deported  to 
England  in  connection  with  that  afiair.  Upon 
his  release  he  returned  to  his  Republican 
activities,  and  was  eventually  elected  Lord 
Mayor  of  Cork  by  a  Sinn  Fein  majority  of  the 
Corporation.  After  he  had  retired  to  bed  on  the 
19th  March,  1920,  a  loud  knocking  was  heard 
at  the  door  of  his  house.  His  wife  opened  the 
door,  and  was  immediately  brushed  aside  by 
three  or  four  armed  men  with  blackened  faces, 
who  made  their  way  upstairs,  knocked  at 
Mr.  MacCurtain's  bedroom  door,  and  called 
upon  him  to  come  out.  He  did  so,  and  was 
immediately  fatally  woimded  by  revolver  shots. 
His  assailants  then  made  their  escape,  and  it 
was  asserted  that  the  sound  of  a  motor rcar  was 
heard  as  they  did  so. 

An  inquest  was  held,  and  after  protracted 
sittings  a  verdict  was  returned  attributing  the 


80     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

murder  to  members  of  the  police.  It  has  since 
been  conclusively  proved  that  no  members  of  the 
police  were  concerned  in  the  attack,  and  the 
matter  remains  at  present  a  mystery.  Many 
theories  have  been  put  forward,  of  which  two 
would  seem  to  contain  the  elements  of  a  possible 
solution.  One  of  these  is  that  certain  members 
of  the  Irish  Republican  Army  had  conceived  the 
idea  that  the  Lord  Mayor  was  about  to  reveal 
certain  details  of  their  operations  of  which  he 
disapproved.  The  second  is  contained  in  an 
article  of  the  London  Times  of  March  29th,  1920, 
an  extract  from  which  is  as  follows  : — 

"  A  well-informed  correspondent  writes  :  '  It 
has  now  been  ascertained  that  on  the  night  of 
1 7th- 18th  March  there  was  a  meeting  of  the 
Circle  of  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood, 
attended  by  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork,  Alderman 
Thomas  MacCurtain,  and  other  prominent 
persons.  At  this  meeting  seven  members  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  were  expelled. 
It  is  significant  that  one  of  the  persons  present 
was  shot  after  leaving  the  meeting,  and  that  two 
nights  later  the  Lord  Mayor  was  shot.  It  is 
stated  that  at  this  meeting  accusations  were  made 
of  infidelity  to  the  cause  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood.'  " 

It  may  be  noted  that  Mr.  MacCurtain  was 
succeeded  as  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork  by  Alderman 
Terence  McSwiney,  the  Commandant  of  the  1st 
Cork  Brigade,  I.R.A. 

On  March  26th  the  world  was  horrified  by  the 
murder  of  Mr.  Alan  Bell,  a  resident  magistrate, 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      81 

who  was  dragged  from  a  tram  in  broad  daylight 
in  the  streets  of  Dublin,  and  brutally  murdered. 
The  incident  is  dealt  with  elsewhere.*  It  is 
mentioned  here  only  to  record  the  progress  of  the 
Sinn  Fein  campaign  of  murder.  Mr.  Bell 
was  regarded  as  specially  dangerous  to  that 
organisation,  as  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  in 
examining  the  relations  between  Sinn  Fein  and 
certain  Irish  Banks. 

The  beginning  of  April  witnessed  a  change  in 
the  administration  of  Ireland.  On  1st  April  it 
was  announced  that  Mr.  Ian  Macpherson  had 
resigned  the  office  of  Chief  Secretary  to  the 
Viceroy  of  Ireland,  and  two  days  later  came  the 
further  announcement  that  Mr.  Macpherson 
had  been  appointed  Minister  of  Pensions  in 
succession  to  Sir  Laming  Worthington-Evans, 
while  Lieut. -Col.  The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Hamar 
Greenwood,  Bart,  K.C.,  had  been  appointed 
Chief  Secretary. 

Sir  Hamar  Greenwood  was  born  in  Canada  in 
1870  of  Welsh  parentage.  In  1895  he  came  to 
England,  studied  law  at  Gray's  Inn,  and  was 
called  to  the  Bar  in  1906.  In  1903  he  had 
adopted  a  parliamentary  career,  and  three  years 
later  was  elected  Member  of  Parliament  for 
York,  sitting  on  the  Liberal  side  of  the  House. 
Defeated  at  the  poll  at  the  General  Election  in 
January,  1910,  in  December  of  the  same  year  he 
stood  for  Sunderland,  and  was  duly  elected.  He 
has  since  represented  this  constituency  without  a 
break.    During  the  War,  he  commanded  the  10th 

*  Page  224 


82     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

(Service  Battalion)  the  South  Wales  Borderers, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  in  France.  Having 
been  created  a  Baronet  in  1915  for  his 
conspicuous  success  in  the  organisation  of 
recruiting,  he  was  called  to  the  War  Office  by 
I-^rd  Derby  in  1916  and  appointed  Deputy 
Assistant  Adjutant  General.  In  1919  Sir  Hamar 
received  his  first  Ministerial  appointment  as 
Under-Secretary  to  the  Home  Office. 

No  happier  choice  could  have  been  made  for 
the  difficult  and  arduous  post  of  Chief  Secretary. 
Ireland  was  rapidly  drifting  into  anarchy,  the 
Government  was  fast  losing  its  hold  upon  the 
situation.  Here  was  a  man  of  world  wide 
experience  in  peace  and  war,  not  bound  by 
insular  prejudice,  capable  of  treating  the  Irish 
situation  and  the  Irish  people  without  fear  or 
favour.  Fear  indeed  was  unknown  to  him, 
perhaps  his  chief  characteristic  is  an  absolutely 
fearless  outlook  upon  difficulty  and  danger. 
Above  all,  here  was  a  strong  man,  a  man  who 
had  faced  the  world  and  knew  his  power ;  a  man 
with  the  gift  of  work  and  of  making  others  work 
gladly  for  him;  a  man  with  a  personality  which 
had  the  supreme  power  of  inspiring  confidence 
when  things  seemed  at  their  darkest.  Even  his 
bitterest  critics,  in  the  height  of  their  opposition 
to  his  policy,  have  never  denied  his  courage  or 
his  ability;  there  is  no  one  of  them  but  has,  at 
one  time  or  another,  been  forced — often,  perhaps, 
against  that  critic's  own  will — to  acknowledge 
the  honesty  of  his  purpose  and  the  earnestness  of 
his  determination  to  do  that  which  was  right. 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      83 

This  was  the  man  who  was  called  upon  in  April, 
1920,  to  assume  what  seemed  to  many  a  hopeless 
task.  The  months  which  have  since  passed  bear 
witness  to  his  success. 

Sir  Hamar's  appointment  necessitated  a  bye- 
election  in  his  constituency,  but  of  the  result 
there  was  never  a  doubt.  On  May  7th  the  result 
was  announced,  and  Sir  Hamar  was  found  to 
have  topped  the  poll  with  a  majority  of  over 
8,000,  His  message  on  this  occasion  was  typical 
of  the  directness  of  his  outlook.  **  The  result  of 
the  election  is  most  gratifying.  To  have  secured 
such  a  majority  (3,369)  over  the  combined  polls 
of  my  opponents  in  a  three-cornered  fight  is  a 
victory  which  gives  Lady  Greenwood  and  myself 
the  greatest  encouragement  in  our  task  in 
Ireland.  The  election  was  fought  by  me  on  the 
Irish  question,  because  I  consider  it  the  most 
important  question  before  the  English-speaking 
world  to-day.  The  result  is  an  emphatic  vote  of 
confidence  in  the  Coalition  Government,  and  in 
myself  as  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland." 

Sir  Hamar  was  right.  It  was  a  personal 
triumph,  a  vote  of  confidence  which  has  never 
been  misplaced. 

At  the  time  of  the  appointment  of  the 
new  Chief  Secretary  the  question  of  political 
prisoners  was  embittering  feeling  throughout 
Ireland.  In  an  endeavour  to  quell  the  rising 
storm  the  Administration  had  arrested  a  number 
of  prominent  Sinn  Feiners.  Of  these  a  small 
proportion  had  been  convicted,  others  were 
awaiting  trial  for  various  offences,  and  a  large 


84     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

number  had  been  arrested  on  suspicion  under  the 
Defence  of  the  Realm  Regulations.*  These  men 
were  lodged  in  Mountjoy  Prison,  Dublin,  and  in 
Wormwood  Scrubbs,  London,  and  had  gone  on 
hunger-strike.  On  April  12th  Mr.  Denis  Henry, 
the  Attorney-General  for  Ireland,  announced 
that  of  the  151  so-called  political  prisoners  in 
Mountjoy  88  were  on  hunger-strike,  and  that  of 
these  some  were  approaching  the  danger  zone. 
The  hunger-strikers  in  Wormwood  Scrubbs  had 
abandoned  their  tactics  by  this  date. 

The  condition  of  the  prisoners  caused 
grave  concern  throughout  Ireland.  Scenes  were 
witnessed  outside  Mountjoy  Prison  and  Worm- 
wood Scrubbs :  the  National  Executive  of  the 
Irish  Labour  Party  and  Trades  Union  Congress 
called  a  general  strike :  Irish  opinion  of  all 
shades  found  itself  for  once  in  unison  in 
protesting  against  the  retention  of  men  against 
whom  no  definite  charges  had  been  formulated. 
Sir  Hamar  saw  an  opportunity  for  initiating  a 
policy  of  conciliation,  such  as  would  show  the 
majority  of  the  Irish  people  that  his  attitude 
was  one  entirely  devoid  of  prejudice.  By  his 
advice  the  Viceroy  received  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
Dublin  on  14th  April  and  informed  him  that 

*  Regulation  14b,  which  provides  that  the  Chief 
Secretary  shall  have  power,  on  the  recommendation  of 
the  Competent  Military  Authority,  to  intern  "  any 
person  who  is  suspected  of  acting  or  of  having  acted 
or  of  being  about  to  act  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the 
public  safety  or  the  defence  of  the  Realm."  An  order 
under  this  Regulation  may  require  the  person  to  whom 
the  order  reflates  to  reside  or  to  be  interned  in  any 
place  in  the  British  Islands. 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      85 

certain  of  the  hunger-strikers  in  Mountjoy 
Prison  cjould  be  released  on  parole  for  the 
purposes  of  receiving  medical  treatment  outside 
the  prison  for  periods  to  be  specified  in  each  case 
by  the  Medical  Officer  of  the  prison.  On  the  15th 
Mr.  Bonar  Law  read  in  the  House  of  Commons 
a  message  from  the  Viceroy  as  follows : — 

"  Following  the  O'Brien  precedent,  authority 
was  given  to  the  Governor  of  Mountjoy  Prison 
to  liberate  any  persons  awaiting  trial  or 
deportation,  who  were  certified  by  doctors  to  be 
in  imminent  danger  of  death  and  requiring 
treatment  which  could  not  be  given  in  the  prison. 
Under  this  order,  66  prisoners  have  been  released 
on  parole  for  periods  differing  in  each  case 
according  to  their  particular  needs.  I  should 
perhaps  tell  you  that  owing  to  a  mistake  made  by 
the  Prison  Authorities,  some  of  these  66  men 
were  persons  who  had  been  convicted  and 
sentenced,  and  were  in  no  way  entitled  to  be 
released  on  parole.  I  think  this  should  be 
expressly  made  knovni,  so  that  such  action  will 
not  form  a  precedent.  The  whole  action  taken 
in  regard  to  the  hunger-strikers  was  strictly 
based  on  the  decision  in  regard  to  ameliorative 
treatment.  The  release  on  parole  was  never 
intended  to  apply  to  cases  of  men  who  were 
convicted  after  trial." 

On  the  20th  the  Irish  Grovernment  issued  a 
statement  to  the  press  defining  the  status  of  these 
prisoners  and  making  clear  the  treatment  which 
would  be  accorded  to  them.  This  statement  is 
included  at  the  end  of  this  volume  (Appendix  C). 


86     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

On  May  17th  General  Sir  Nevil  Macready,  who 
had  assumed  command  of  the  Forces  in  Ireland 
on  the  14th  April,  inspected  men  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Constabulary  and  the  Dublin  Metropolitan 
Police  at  the  depot  in  Phoenix  Park,  for  the 
purpose  of  awarding  the  King's  Police  Medal  to 
ten  members  of  the  Forces.* 

On  May  15th  General  Tudor  was  appointed 
Police  Advisor  to  the  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  with 
general  supervisory  powers  over  both  Irish 
police  forces,  and  on  the  24th  the  following 
announcement  was  made  : — 

*'  In  order  to  relieve  the  pressure  of  work  in 
the  Chief  Secretary's  Office  the  following 
appointments  have  been  made  : 

Sir  John  Anderson,  K.C.B.,  Chairman  of 
the  Board  of  Inland  Revenue,  to  be  Under- 
Secretary  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  jointly 
with  the  Right  Hon.  James  MacMahon. 

*  The  following'  extract  from  his  speech  on  this 
occasion  will  be  of  interest :  "  In  many  cases  the  Police 
Medal  represents  practically  the  V.C.  of  tlie  Army, 
because  many  of  the  deeds  that  a  man  wins  the  medal 
for  are  deeds  where  he  risks  his  life,  and  very  often 
is  incapacitated,  in  doing  his  duty.  Also  the  medal 
has  another  feature,  which  I  think  no  other  medal  has, 
and  that  is  on  occasions  it  is  given  for  long  and 
distinguished  service  as  distinct  from  any  actual  deed 
such  as  I  mentioned  just  now.  As  an  old  Commissioner 
of  the  Police  I  know  how  it  is  sought  after.  I  know 
how  when  one  sees  a  policeman  or  constabulary  man 
with  the  blue  and  white  ribbon  on  him  one  at  once  says, 
*  There  is  a  man  who  stands  out  and  has  had  the  luck, 
possibly,  to  make  a  reputation  which  makes  him  stand 
out  from  his  fellows,'  and  he  wears  a  decoration  which 
every  policeman  is  only  too  proud  to  have." 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      87 

Mr.  A.  W.  Cope,  second  Secretary  of  the 
Ministry  of  Pensions,  to  be  Assistant 
Under-Secretary,  on  the  retirement  of  Sir 
John  Taylor,  K.C.B.,  who  has  completed 
forty  years'  service. 

"  Sir  John  Anderson  and  Mr.  Cope  are 
appointed  to  hold  office  during  the  continuance 
of  the  present  pressure  of  business,  with  the 
intention  that  they  should  in  due  course  resume 
the  exercise  of  their  previous  functions." 

These  appointments  completed  the  reinforce- 
ment of  the  Irish  Executive,  as  far  as  the 
higher  posts  were  concerned.  Certain  minor 
appointments  followed  until  the  Executive  was 
sufficiently  staffed  to  deal  with  the  enormous 
amount  of  work  thrown  upon  it  by  the  disturbed 
state  of  the  country. 

About  this  time  began  the  very  serious 
situation  caused  by  the  refusal  of  Irish  dock  and 
railway  employees  to  handle  *  munitions, '  under 
which  heading  they  included  all  stores  destined 
for  the  police  or  military  forces.  On  May  20th 
the  Dublin  dockers  refused  to  handle  the  cargoes 
of  vessels  coming  into  the  port  laden  with 
military  stores.  On  the  22nd  the  steamer 
Polberg  arrived  at  Kingstown  with  a  consign- 
ment of  cars  and  stores  for  the  troops  at  Cork. 
The  vessel  was  unloaded  by  a  party  of  soldiers, 
and  the  stores  loaded  into  railway  wagons,  but, 
acting  under  instructions  from  their  leaders,  the 
drivers  of  the  engine  which  should  have  taken 
the  train  to  Cork  refused  to  act.  The  men's 
leaders  stated  that  they  were  acting  on  the  same 


88     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

principle  as  the  English  workers  who  had  refused 
to  handle  munitions  consigned  to  Poland.  It 
was  not  until  the  26th  that  the  train  was  allowed 
to  proceed  to  its  destination,  and  even  then  there 
was  no  abandonment  of  principle.  It  appeared 
that  the  railwaymen  were  under  the  impression 
that  the  stores  consisted  of  ammunition,  but 
upon  inspection  they  discovered  that  they  were 
in  fact  nothing  more  than  a  consignment  of 
'  bully-beef.'  Instructions  were  given  to  the 
engine-drivers  by  their  leaders  that  they  might 
proceed  with  their  duties,  and  the  incident  came 
to  an  end. 

But  this  did  not  alter  the  general  situation. 
The  dockers  on  strike  at  the  Port  of  Dublin 
refused  to  return  to  work  unless  they  were  given 
an  undertaking  that  they  would  not  be  required 
to  handle  munitions,  while  the  employers 
demanded  an  unconditional  return.  The  result 
was  a  complete  deadlock.  Attempts  at 
negotiation  proved  abortive.  By  the  middle  of 
June  the  position  was  virtually  the  same.  On 
June  14th  the  President  of  the  National  Union 
of  Railwaymen  made  an  attempt  to  find  a  way 
out  of  the  difficulty,  but  was  unsuccessful. 
Shortly  after  seven  o'clock  he  issued  the  follow- 
ing '  official  '  statement : — 

"  I  communicated  with  the  officials  of  the 
L.  and  N.W.R.  Co.  yesterday  and  was  informed 
that  Mr.  Cotton  was  proceeding  to  London,  upon 
which  I  made  the  following  suggestion  :  '  The 
Company  will  agree  that  work  will  be  resumed 
on  the  basis  existing  prior  to  the  commencement 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      89 

of  the  dispute,  and  that  in  the  event  of  any 
question  arising  in  connection  with  the  carrying 
out  of  the  work,  the  Company's  representatives 
to  meet  representatives  of  the  men  with  a  view  to 
obviating  any  difficulty.' 

"Mr.  Cotton  conveyed  the  suggestion  and  we 
received  to-day  a  reply  from  London  as  follows : 

"  '  General  Manager  to  Cotton,  North 
Wall.  Railway  Companies  are  under  statutory 
obligations  to  deal  with  all  traffic  handed 
to  them,  and  cannot,  therefore,  discriminate 
against  any  particular  traffic.  These  obligations 
must  be  carried  out.  The  Company  are  quite 
willing  for  the  men  to  resume  work  on  the  basis 
existing  prior  to  the  commencement  of  the 
dispute,  and  the  men  can  do  so  at  once  if  they 
agree  to  handle  all  traffic.  (Signed)  Williams, 
Euston.' 

"  This  was  reported  to  the  Strike  Committee 
this  afternoon,  who  regretted  that  they  could 
not  accept  this  position,  and,  unless  anything 
new  transpires,  the  dispute  will  therefore  go  on." 

A  similar  statement  was  also  issued  from  the 
Company's  office. 

Commenting  upon  the  situation  generally,  the 
President*  of  the  N.U.R.  said  : — 

' '  I  am  not  disposed  to  place  all  the  blame  for 
the  breakdown  of  the  negotiations  upon  the 
Company,  as,  in  my  opinion,  they  are  acting 
under  instructions  from  the  Government.  I  have 
nothing  to  confirm  this  except  my  own  point  of 
view,  but  it  does  appear  to  me  that  the  Govern- 

*  His  name  was  Cramp. 


90     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

ment  are  refusing  all  offers  of  conciliation  such 
as  I  have  made,  and  are  thus  forcing  the  issue." 

The  strike  hit  every  section  of  the  community 
in  Ireland  except  the  Government,  vp^ho  were 
able  to  use  their  own  vessels,  their  own  labour, 
and  their  own  motor  transport  to  convey  such 
material  as  they  chose  to  any  part  of  Ireland.  As 
a  measure  against  the  enforcement  of  law  and 
order,  which  was  undoubtedly  its  intention,  it 
failed  utterly.  That  the  men  realised  this  is 
proved  by  the  extension  of  their  embargo  to  the 
conveyance  of  troops  a  few  days  later.  However, 
this  matter  is  dealt  with  at  some  length 
elsewhere,*  and  its  effects  need  not  be  referred  to 
here.  It  is  merely  another  example  of  the 
perverse  effects  of  Sinn  Fein  teaching,  the  result 
of  which  has  always  been  to  bring  ruin  upon  the 
very  country  for  which  it  professes  to  be  fighting. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  year  the  Sinn  Fein 
organisation  endeavoured  to  ingratiate  itself 
with  the  mass  of  the  people  by  establishing 
Courts,'  which  were  widely  advertised  as 
dealing  out  justice  to  Republican  litigants  who 
refused,  under  pressure  of  intimidation,  to 
recognise  the  legal  courts.  These  Sinn  Fein 
courts  sat  irregularly  and  in  many  cases  in 
secret.  In  most  cases  they  were  in  fact  merely 
arbitration  courts,  and,  as  such,  within  the  law. 
In  a  few  cases  they  dealt  with  offenders  brought 
before  them  on  various  charges,  and  sentenced 
these  offenders  to  fines  and  '  banishment  '  from 
their  homes  for  various  periods.     They  seem  to 

*  Chapter  IX. 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      91 

have  existed  mainly  for  propaganda  purposes, 
in  order  to  afford  evidence  that  Sinn  Fein  was 
capable  of  government.  That  the  leaders  of  the 
movement  put  no  faith  in  them  as  genuine 
instruments  of  justice  is  shown  by  their  actions 
on  several  occasions.  Of  these,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  is  the  case  of  a  cinema  proprietor  in 
County  Meath,  which  is  worthy  of  a  brief 
account. 

On  August  8th  this  gentleman  wrote  to 
Alderman  Murphy  asking  for  his  advice  in  the 
following  circumstances.  In  October,  1919,  he 
returned  a  box  of  films  to  an  agent  in  Belfast, 
but  the  Railway  Company  lost  the  box  and  were 
unable  to  trace  it.  The  agent  served  him  with  a 
writ  for  £60,  the  value  of  the  films.  The  further 
recital  of  his  difficulties  is  in  his  own  words  : — 
"  I  of  course  will  have  to  pay  this,  or  some 
amount  for  the  loss  of  the  films.  I  must  defend 
the  case  to  show  I  delivered  the  films  to  the 
Railway  Company,  and  also  to  ascertain  the 
actual  value  of  the  films.  Then  I  must  go  for  the 
Railway  Company.  This  is  what  I  want  you  to 
assist  me  in.  Can  I  take  the  Railway  Company 
into  a  Republican  Court  ?  I  am  quite  sure  they 
would  refuse  to  recognise  our  Courts,  but  suppose 
they  do,  and  that  I  can  establish  my  claim  against 
them  in  our  Courts,  are  we  in  a  position  to  recover 
the  agreed  amount  from  the  Railway  Company  ? 
I  am  sure  that  you  can  find  out  all  particulars, 
and  will  you  kindly  let  me  know  as  early  as 
possible?  " 

Alderman  Murphy  wrote  across  the  top  of  this 


^2     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

letter  "  Please  give  this  matter  your  immediate 
attention  and  oblige  "  and  sent  it  to  the  *  Local 
Government  Department  '  of  Dail  Eireann,  the 
*  Government  '  of  Sinn  Fein.  The  '  Minister  for 
Local  Government  '  copying,  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously, the  practice  of  less  idealistic  Govern- 
ment Offices,  minuted  it  to  the  '  Secretary  for 
Home  Affairs  '  as  follows : — 
"  A  Chara, 

Enclosed  letter  has  been  sent  me  by  Alderman 
Murphy.  I  expect  as  it  is  a  law  question  your 
Department  ought  to  deal  with  same.  May  I 
take  it  that  you  will  inform  Alderman  Murphy  ?" 

Some  days  later  the   '  General  Secretariat  ' 
returned     the     correspondence     to     Alderman 
Murphy,  with  the  following  minute  : — 
"  A  Chara, 

The  Secretary  for  Home  Affairs  has  asked 
me  to  write  to  you  in  connection  with  the  attached 
letter,  and  to  say  that  in  this  case  the  applicant 
may  sue  the  Railway  Company  in  the  British 
Courts." 

A  very  pretty  little  comedy,  and  one  that 
shows  better  than  pages  of  reasoned  argument 
the  opinion  of  the  "  Secretary  for  Home  Affairs" 
concerning  his  own  Courts. 

The  progress  of  the  campaign  of  outrage  was 
very  rapid  during  the  first  six  months  of  1920. 
The  whole  question  of  outrage  is  dealt  with  in 
Chapter  VIII.,  and  it  will  therefore  be  unneces- 
sary to  do  more  than  mention  the  subject  here. 
The  following  figures  give  an  idea  of  the  rapid 
increase  in  murder  and  destruction.     Only  such 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      93 


outrages    as    were    directly    attributed    to    the 
Republicans  are  included. 

From  the  1st  January,  1919,  to  the  end  of 
June,  1920,  the  totals  of  various  forms  of  crime 
are  as  follows  : — 


Court-houses  destroyed    ... 
Vacated  R.I.C.  barracks  destroyed 
Vacated  R.I.C.  barracks  damaged 
Occupied  R.I.C.  barracks  destroyed 
Occupied  R.I.C.  barracks  damaged 

Raids  on  Mails     

Coastguard    Stations    and    Lighthouses 

raided     ... 
Police  killed 

, ,     wounded    . 
Soldiers  killed 

, ,        wounded 
Civilians  killed     . 
wounded 


33 

351 

105 

15 

25 

98 

19 
66 
79 
5 
2 
15 
41 


It  has  been  shown  (page  62)  that  during  the 
years  1917  and  1918  the  cases  of  murder  and 
assault  with  intent  to  murder,  for  the  whole  of 
Ireland,  numbered  14  and  12  respectively.  The 
above  table  shows  that  from  the  1st  January, 
1919,  to  the  end  of  June,  1920,  these  crimes 
numbered  208. 

The  most  ominous  feature  of  this  increase  in 
outrage  was  the  fact  that  outside  Ulster  the 
voice  of  the  people  remained  silent.  Such  were 
the  measures  of  intimidation  employed  by  the 
Republicans  that  no  man  dare  speak  his  mind 
about   the   tragedy  which  was  overtaking   the 


94     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

country.  Dail  Eireann,  the  self-constituted 
*  Government  of  the  Irish  Republic,*  although 
it  never  acknowledged  openly  its  opinion  of 
brutal  murder,  must  yet  be  held  responsible  for 
it,  since  never  did  it  utter  a  word  of  protest  or 
take  any  steps  to  repress  it.  It  pointed  to  the 
Jrish  Republican  Army  as  a  body  of  gallant 
soldiers  at  war  with  the  Forces  of  the  Crown, 
obliged  in  self-defence  to  carry  out  definite 
military  operations.  The  notorious  Michael 
Collins,  '  Adjutant  General  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Army  '  was  indeed  a  member  of  An 
Dail,  in  his  capacity  of  '  Minister  of  Finance.' 
Terence  McSwiney,  Commandant  of  the  First 
Cork  Brigade,  I.R.A.,  and  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork, 
was  another  of  its  members.  It  is  impossible  for 
Sinn  Fein,  as  a  political  aspiration,  to  dissociate 
itself  from  the  operations  of  the  murder-gangs, 
while  the  men  who  by  their  own  showing  were 
responsible  for  the  operations  of  these  gangs 
were  the  elected  representatives  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
party. 

This  fact  it  was  that  made  impossible  direct 
negotiations  between  the  British  Government 
'and  the  representatives  of  Sinn  Fein.  The 
most  essential  preliminary  to  the  opening  of 
negotiation  must  be  the  cessation  of  outrage. 
Had  Sinn  Fein  guaranteed  this  cessation,  it 
would  have  confessed  itself  responsible  for  the 
direction  of  outrage  and  murder,  and  the 
Grovernment  would  have  been  invited  to  grasp  a 
hand  red  with  the  blood  of  Government  servants. 
Nor    did    Sinn    Fein    dare    to    repudiate    its 


THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  OF  1920.      95 

own  familiars,  and  denounce  their  policy  of 
assassination.  Terrorism  is  a  double  edged 
weapon,  apt  to  recoil  upon  the  persons  of  those 
who  wield  it.  The  leaders  of  the  murder-gangs 
were  desperate  men,  and  desperate  men  are  no 
respecters  of  persons  where  their  own  safety  is 
concerned.  The  opposition  of  Dail  Eireann 
could  and  would  have  terminated  the  murder 
campaign,  but  not  before  the  murderers,  driven 
to  bay  and  feeling  the  halter  already  about  their 
necks,  had  wreaked  a  fearful  vengeance  upon 
those  who  had  first  encouraged  and  then  betrayed 
them.  The  grim  tragedy  of  MacCurtain,  .and 
of  many  more  found  done  to  death  with  the 
ominous  notice  ' '  Spies  and  informers  beware !  ' ' 
pinned  to  their  clothing,  conveyed  a  warning 
which  none  dare  disregard. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920. 

The  events  of  the  latter  half  of  the  year  1920 
are  of  too  recent  occurrence  for  it  to  be  necessary 
to  set  them  down  in  chronological  order.  Every 
reader  of  the  newspapers  is  aware  that  by  the 
autumn  of  1920  the  Irish  question  had  resolved 
itself  into  a  struggle  between  the  Government 
and  the  forces  of  disorder,  a  struggle  in  which 
the  Government  was  steadily  asserting  its 
supremacy.  It  will  be  sufficient  for  the  purposes 
of  this  book  to  deal  with  certain  of  the  leading 
events  of  the  period,  selecting  those  events  which 
have  had  a  definite  effect  upon  Irish  affairs,  or 
which  illustrate  the  condition  of  the  country  at 
this  time.  Certain  aspects  of  the  situation  are 
dealt  with  in  the  succeeding  chapters  at  greater 
length  than  would  be  possible  in  a  brief  review. 

The  following  table  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
extent  to  which  outrage  is  being  committed  by 
the  Republicans.  The  figures  include  only  those 
crimes  knov^oi  to  have  been  carried  out  by 
members  of  the  Republican  organisations,  and 
omit  certain  minor  forms  of  outrage,  such  as 
intimidation,  cattle-driving  and  the  like.  They 
do  not  include  casualities  in  Ulster  rioting 
during  the  period.  An  account  of  these  latter 
will  be  found  in  Chapter  XII. 


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98     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

These  figures  deserve  some  comment.  Dealing 
first  with  the  total  number  of  outrages  in  each 
week,  it  will  be  observed  that  these  increase 
towards  the  beginning  of  September,  and  then 
decrease  fairly  regularly.  The  total  number  of 
outrages  committed  is  a  rough  measure  of  the 
niunbers  of  people  engaged  in  committing  them. 
The  reason  of  the  fluctuation  is  probably  that 
during  the  increase  the  perpetrators  of  outrage 
were  encouraged  by  the  comparative  safety  with 
which  their  depredations  were  being  conunitted. 
As  the  police  and  troops  became  more  expert  in 
stamping  out  crime,  the  more  faint-hearted  of 
the  desperadoes  found  their  courage  forsaking 
them,  and  abandoned  a  pursuit  which  involved 
risk  of  capture.  It  will  be  observed  that  it  is 
what  we  may  term  minor  outrage  that  accounts 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  fluctuation,  while 
major  outrage  remains  comparatively  constant. 
The  smaller  men  became  frightened  by  the  danger 
of  arrest,  while  the  really  desperate  characters, 
those  for  instance  who  specialised  in  murder, 
knowing  that  they  must  ultimately  be  '  rounded 
up  '  and  could  not  escape  the  penalty  of  their 
crimes,  continued  their  career  of  assassination, 
careless  whether  they  were  hanged  for  a  sheep  or 
for  a  lamb. 

The  statistics  of  arrests  and  court-martials 
bear  out  this  theory.     They  are  as  follows  : — 


THE    LATTER   HALF   OF    1920. 


99 


Week  ending 

Arrests 
Number. 

Courts-Martial. 
Numbers  Held.    No.  of 

Convictions 

Aug.     7th 

48 

„        14th 

59 

8 

8 

„       21st 

37 

2 

2 

„       28th 

32 

13 

12 

Sept.    4th 
„       11th 

49 

89 

16 
25 

15 
20 

,,       18th 

47 

39 

33 

„       25th 

133 

31 

21 

Oct.     2nd 

64 

72 

50 

9th 

42 

78 

71 

,,       16th 

71 

44 

36 

,,       23rd 

74 

24 

15 

30th 

84 

77 

70 

Nov.  6th 

49 

29 

25 

„       13th 

110 

52 

41 

„       20th 

137 

40 

29 

„       27th 

189 

39 

25 

Dec.    4th 

58 

43 

35 

,,       11th 

..       130 

70 

60 

,,       18th 

66 

54 

39 

,,       25th 

66 

53 

48 

Ja.n.    1st 

..       216 

48 

36 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  arrests  and 
convictions  show  a  progressive  increase.  This 
is  more  clearly  shown  by  comparing  the  arrests 
for  the  months  with  the  total  number  of  outrages 
during  that  month.  In  August,  the  percentage 
of  arrests  to  total  outrage  was  30.     In  September 


100    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

it  was  15,  a  figure  affected  by  the  extraordinary 
outbreak  of  raiding  for  arms  during  that  month. 
If  we  exclude  raids  for  arms  and  arrests  for  that 
offence,  the  percentage  becomes  49.  In  October 
it  rose  to  67  per  cent.  It  must  not  be  thought 
that  these  figures  give  a  measure  of  the 
percentage  of  offenders  arrested,  as  many 
offenders  may  participate  in  a  single  crime. 
But  they  do  show  how  the  chances  of  arrest  of 
offenders  have  increased,  and  it  is  just  this 
chance  which  deters  the  more  faint-hearted 
among  the  perpetrators  of  outrage. 

There  is  another  most  important  factor  which 
has  acted  as  a  deterrent  against  crime.  In  the 
past  it  has  been  the  Government's  policy  to 
release  hunger-strikers  when  their  condition 
became  sufficiently  serious.  This  is  not  the  place 
to  discuss  the  wisdom  of  that  policy.  It  was 
decided  upon  in  the  hope  that  clemency  towards 
criminals  would  result  in  the  birth  of  a  more 
generous  outlook  in  Ireland  upon  the  aims  of 
British  government  in  that  country.  This  hope 
proved  illusory.  Instead  of  the  Republicans 
welcoming  these  releases  as  a  sign  that  the 
Government  were  disposed  to  deal  with  the  Irish 
Question  in  a  sympathetic  manner,  and  for  that 
purpose  to  waive  their  rights  upon  a  point  which 
produced  acrimony,  they  hailed  them  as  a  great 
victory  for  their  cause,  as  a  sign  of  the  weakness 
of  the  Government,  and  as  an  encouragement 
to  the  continuance  of  the  campaign  of  outrage. 

There  was  therefore  no  alternative  before  the 
Government  but  to  break  once  and  for  all  the 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        101 

policy  of  the  hunger-strikers.  It  had  become  an 
open  boast  of  any  Irish  criminal  that  he  had  but 
to  endure  a  certain  amoimt  of  discomfort  lu 
order  to  secure  his  release,  and  that  therefote  this 
discomfort  was  the  only  penalty  he  need  pay  for 
any  crime  which  he  cared  to  commit.  Further 
than  this,  the  forces  of  law  and  order  were 
discouraged  from  the  performance  of  their  duty. 
What,  they  argued,  was  the  use  of  enduring 
great  hardship  and  undergoing  grave  risk  of 
death  in  order  to  capture  a  criminal  who 
forthwith  secured  his  release  by  hunger-striking 
and  returned  to  the  scene  of  his  crime,  to  mark 
down  for  murder  the  men  who  had  effected  his 
arrest  ?  From  any  point  of  view  it  was  obvious 
that  release  by  hunger-striking  must  be  ended, 
and  that  without  delay. 

The  full  consequences  of  this  decision 
must  be  realised.  The  weakness  of  previous 
administrations  both  in  England  and  Ireland, 
bowing  before  the  menace,  had  created  a 
mischievous  precedent.  It  had  become  almost 
an  accepted  principle  that  a  convicted  person 
had  only  to  threaten  suicide  in  order  to  evade 
his  or  her  sentence.  Sentimentalists  of  every 
shade  of  opinion  were  ready  upon  the  slightest 
provocation  to  proclaim  such  persons  as  martyrs 
for  their  cause,  however  ridiculous  such  a  cause 
might  be.  Sentiment  is  nowhere  more  rampant 
than  in  Ireland,  and  the  Government  were  faced 
by  a  dilemma  :  either  to  render  justice  a  farce 
and  release  criminals  who  indulged  in  a  more 
or    less    genuine    hunger-strike,    or    to    retain 


102    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

such  men  in  custody  and  incur  the  wrath  of 
sentimentalists. 

To  a  man  of  the  strength  of  mind  of  Sir  Hamar 
Greenwood  there  could  be  no  hesitation  between 
these  two  courses.  The  upholding  of  justice 
was  the  first  need  of  Ireland,  and  any  policy 
which  tended  to  weaken  it  was  unthinkable. 
Further,  putting  sentiment  aside,  the  attitude 
of  the  hunger-striker  was  indefensible.  A  man 
who  takes  measures  to  end  his  life  is  a  suicide, 
whether  he  takes  poison  or  abstains  from  taking 
anything.  The  manner  in  which  he  takes  his 
life  has  no  bearing  on  the  justification  of  the  act. 
It  is  the  duty  of  a  Government  holding  a  person 
in  custody  to  take  every  precaution  against  that 
person  committing  suicide,  but  the  argument 
that  it  should  release  him  lest  he  should  evade 
those  precautions  is  untenable.  The  spectacle 
of  the  long  drawTi  out  agony  of  a  brave  man 
determined  to  die  in  this  manner  may  be  pitiable, 
but  it  is  no  argument  for  his  release.  It  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  the  remedy  is  in  his  own 
hands. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Government  were 
called  upon  to  face  a  case  of  this  nature  which, 
from  the  standing  of  the  criminal,  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  whole  civilised  world.  On  the 
12th  August,  1920,  Terence  McSwiney,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Cork,  member  of  Dail  Eireann  and 
Commandant  of  the  First  Cork  Brigade  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Army,  was  arrested  at  the  City 
Hall,  Cork.  McSwiney  was  then  37  and  was  a 
teacher  by  profession  and  a  native  of  Cork.     He 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        103 

was  a  highly  educated  man  with  a  fanatical 
hatred  of  all  things  British.  Formally  a  teacher 
under  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and 
Technical  Instruction,  he  afterwards  became  a 
paid  organiser  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  in  Cork 
City.  He  attended  the  meeting  of  the  executive 
of  Irish  Volunteers  in  Dublin  prior  to  the 
Rebellion,  was  interned  after  the  rebellion,  but 
was  released  in  December,  1916.  He  was  again 
arrested  on  February  22nd  1917  and  deported 
to  England,  but  was  released  in  June  1917, 
whereupon  he  resumed  his  Volunteer  activities 
in  Cork,  wearing  the  uniform  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Army.  He  attended  the  Sinn  Fein 
Convention  in  Dublin  in  October,  1917,  was  tried 
by  District  Court  Martial  at  Cork  on  November 
16th  1917  for  illegal  drilling  and  wearing 
uniform,  and  was  sentenced  to  six  months' 
imprisonment,  but  was  released  on  hunger-strike 
five  days  later.  On  December  12th  1917  he  was 
again  wearing  uniform  and  drilling  in  Cork; 
accordingly  he  was  re-arrested  on  March  10th 
1918  and  committed  to  Belfast  Gaol.  On 
completing  his  sentence  he  was  deported  to 
England  and  interned  at  Lincoln. 

During  his  internment  he  was  elected 
unopposed  for  Mid- Cork  and  was  released  from 
Lincoln  on  March  I7th  1919.  He  attended 
meetings  of  Dail  Eireann  and  accompanied  the 
Irish- American  Delegates  to  Limerick  on  the  8th 
May.  On  October  5th  1919  he  was  found 
holding  a  meeting  in  Macroom  Sinn  Fein  Hall, 
to  organise  a  collection  for  the  Republican  Loan, 


104    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

and  a  receipt  for  a  volunteer  application  fee  was 
also  found  on  him.  On  the  26th  October  he  held 
a  similar  meeting  at  Ballingeary.  On  the  30th 
March  1920  he  was  elected  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork 
— after  the  murder  of  Thomas  McCurtain  the 
previous  mayor.  Prior  to  this  he  was  reported 
to  have  been  a  member  of  the  Foreign  Affairs 
Committee  of  Dail  Eireann.  On  the  16th 
August  1920  he  was  tried  by  District  Court 
Martial  at  Cork  on  charges  under  Regulations 
22a  and  27  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm.  He 
was  found  guilty  under  Regulation  22a  of  having 
a  cipher  under  his  control,  and  under  Regulation 
27  of  having  in  his  possession  two  documents  the 
publication  of  which  would  be  likely  to  cause 
disaffection  to  His  Majesty,  and  was  sentenced 
to  two  years'  imprisonment  without  hard  labour. 

According  to  the  evidence,  the  City  Hall  at 
Cork  w^as  searched  by  the  Military  Authorities 
on  the  12th  August.  In  a  desk  used  by  the 
accused  was  found  a  secret  cipher  issued  to  the 
Officers  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  for  use 
as  from  the  28th  July  1920.  In  a  shed  at  the 
back  of  the  City  Hall,  where  the  accused  and  ten 
other  persons  were  assembled,  was  found  a 
decoded  cipher  message  sent  on  the  previous  day 
by  a  police  officer  in  Cork  to  an  official  in  Dublin. 

There  was  no  question  of  McSwiney's  right  to 
possession  of  the  cipher  in  his  capacity  of  Lord 
Mayor.  The  cipher  was  for  police  use  only, 
and  was  issued  only  to  officers  of  the  R.I.C. 

In  McSwiney's  desk  were  also  found  : — 

(1)  A  sealed  typewritten  copy  of  a  resolution 


.THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        105 

passed  by  the  Corporation  of  Cork  acknowledg- 
ing the  authority  of  Dail  Eireann  as  the  duly 
elected  Government  of  the  Iri-sh  people. 

(2)  Typewritten  notes  for  a  speech,  containing 
the  following  passages :  ' '  Our  first  duty  is  to 
answer  that  threat  in  the  only  befitting  manner 
by  showing  ourselves  un  terrified,  cool  and 
inflexible  for  the  fulfilment  of  our  chief  purpose 
— the  establishment  of  the  independence  and 
integrity  of  our  country,  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  the  Irish  Republic.     To  that  end  I  am  here. 

"  If  the  present  aggravated  persecution  by  our 
enemies  could  stop  us  voluntarily  in  the  normal 
discharge  of  our  duties,  it  would  help  them  very 
materially  in  their  compaign  to  overthrow  the 
Irish  Republic  now  established  and  functioning 
according  to  law  notwithstanding  the  English 
Army  of  Occupation. 

"  Our  spirit  is  but  to  be  a  more  lively  mani- 
festation of  the  spirit  in  which  we  began  the 
year — to  work  for  our  City  in  a  new  zeal,  and 
because  of  our  initial  act  we  had  dedicated 
it  to  the  Republic,  and  formally  attested  our 
allegiance,  to  bring  by  our  administration  of  the 
city  glory  to  our  allegiance,  and  by  working  for 
our  city's  advancement  with  constancy  in  all 
honourable  ways  in  her  new  dignity  as  one  of  the 
first  cities  of  the  Irish  Republic,  to  show  our- 
selves eager  to  work  for,  and  if  need  be,  to  die 
for,  the  Irish  Republic. 

"Facing  our  enemy  we  must  declare  an  attitude 
simply.  We  see  in  their  regime  a  thing  of  evil 
incarnate.     With  it  there  can  be  no  parley — 


106    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

any  more  than  there  can  be  a  truce  with  the 
powers  of  Hell.  This  is  our  simple  resolution — 
We  ask  for  no  mercy  and  we  will  make  no 
compromise." 

In  the  City  Hall  was  found  at  the  same  time 
a  letter  addressed  to  McSwiney  in  his  capacity 
of  Commandant  1st  Cork  Brigade  I.R  A.  from 
the  Republican  '  Director  of  Munitions  '.  This 
letter  is  quoted  in  full  on  page 

At  the  Court  Martial  McSwiney  objected  "  To 
the  whole  Court  as  being  an  illegal  Court  not 
assembled  by  the  Irish  Republic."  He  refused 
to  plead,  and  his  refusal  was  treated  as  a  plea  of 
Not  Guilty.  After  the  finding  of  the  Court, 
upon  being  asked  if  he  wished  to  address  the 
Court,  he  replied  :  "  I  have  decided  that  I  shall 
be  free  alive  or  dead  in  a  month,  as  I  will  take 
no  food  for  the  period  of  my  sentence." 

He  was  transferred  to  Brixton  Gaol  on  the 
16th  August,  to  undergo  his  sentence.  He  had 
been  on  hunger-strike  since  the  date  of  his  arrest, 
and  it  became  evident  that  his  hunger-strike  was 
to  be  a  trial  of  strength  between  all  arrested 
Republicans  and  the  Government.  Appeals 
were  made  for  his  release  from  many  quarters; 
many  of  these  appeals  being  made  by  persons  who 
hardly  understood  the  principles  involved.  The 
Government's  reply  to  one  of  these  appeals,  made 
by  the  Labour  Party,  contains  passages  which 
put  forward  very  clearly  the  reasons  that  made 
his  release  impossible. 

"  The  Lord  Mayor  was  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Irish  Republican  Army,  which  has  declared 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF   1920.         107 

itself  to  be  at  war  with  the  Forces  of  the  Crown, 
and  according  to  his  own  written  word  in  one  of 
the  seditious  documents  for  possession  of  which 
he  was  convicted,  he  and  his  followers  were 
determined  to  pursue  their  ends,  asking  for  no 
mercy  and  making  no  compromise.  He  was 
arrested  while  actively  conducting  the  affairs  of 
a  rebel  organisation  under  cover  of  a  Mayoral 
Court.  Had  he  been  taken  at  his  word  and  dealt 
with  as  an  avowed  rebel,  according  to  the 
universal  practice  of  civilised  nations  he  would, 
having  regard  to  the  circumstances  of  his 
capture,  have  been  liable  immediately  to  be  shot. 
Instead  he  was  tried  by  a  legally  constituted 
tribunal,  sentenced  to  a  moderate  term  of 
imprisonment,  and  *  given  at  once  all  the 
privileges  of  a  political  prisoner. 

' '  From  the  moment  of  his  arrest  he  thought  to 
defeat  the  ends  of  justice,  and  to  reduce  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  to  impotence  by  refusing 
food,  no  doubt  in  the  belief  that  that  course 
would  lead  to  his  speedy  release.  It  is  the  clear 
duty  of  the  Government  not  only  to  take  every 
step  possible  to  suppress  disorder  in  Ireland,  but 
also  to  protect  those  brave  men  who  are  carrying 
out  their  duties  as  servants  of  the  Crown,  in 
daily  peril  of  their  lives.  To  release  prisoners 
who,  like  the  Lord  Mayor,  have  been  guilty  of 
complicity  in  a  movement  which  uses  as  one  of 
its  main  instruments  assassination  and  outrage 
would  be  nothing  short  of  a  betrayal  of  those 
loyal  officers  on  whose  devotion  to  duty  the 
fabric  of  social  order  in  Ireland  rests.     Since  the 


108    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

arrest  of  the  Lord  Mayor  fifteen  officers  have  been 
brutally  and  treacherously  done  to  death  without 
even  a  chance  of  defending  themselves.  Surely 
the  sympathy  which  has  been  given  in  such  full 
measure  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  whose  condition  has 
been  brought  about  by  his  own  deliberate  act,  is 
due  rather  to  the  bereaved  widows  and  families 
of  the  murdered  Irish  Policemen.  The  Govern- 
ment fully  realise  how  large  a  part  sentiment 
plays  in  all  human  affairs,  and  if  it  were 
possible  they  would  gladly  have  taken  the 
attitude  of  the  English  King  who  said  of  an 
opponent  '  He  is  determined  to  make  himself  a 
martyr  and  I  am  equally  determined  to  prevent 
it.' 

"  Greatly  as  the  Government  sympathise  with 
those  who  desire  to  see  peace  and  order  restored 
in  Ireland  they  cannot  take  a  course  which,  as 
the  Prime  Minister  has  said,  would  inevitably 
lead  to  a  complete  breakdo\vn  of  the  whole 
machinery  of  law  and  Government.  The  policy 
of  the  Government  has  been  made  clear  from  the 
outset,  and  if  the  Lord  Mayor  dies  in  prison  the 
responsibility  will  rest  in  some  degree  upon  those 
who  by  their  repeated  appeals  have  encouraged 
the  belief  that  the  Government  would  prove 
insincere  in  their  determination,  and  the  hope 
that  notwithstanding  all  declarations  to  the 
contrary  his  misguided  action  would  eventually 
lead  to  his  release." 

The  Press  were  quick  to  realise  that  the 
retention  of  McSwiney  was  no  act  of  mere  petty 
spite,  but  was  due  to  a  decision  based  upon  the 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF   1920.         109 

highest  policy.  The  result  was  the  issue  of  a 
Manifesto  to  the  English  Press  by  the  relatives 
of  McSwiney  through  the  Irish  Self-Determina- 
tion  League  in  London,  an  organisation  which 
had  issued  bulletins  as  to  McSwiney 's  condition. 
This  document,  which  is  as  follows,  exhibits, 
better  than  any  other  evidence  could  do,  the 
political  capital  which  was  being  made  out  of 
the  slow  death  of  a  brave  man,  even  by  his  nearest 
relatives. 


For  Publication.  With  the  Compliments  of 

Art  O'Brien. 

THE   LORD   MAYOR   OF   CORK. 

No  more  information  to  be  given  to  the  English 

Press. 

' '  The  following  is  a  statement  by  the  relatives 
of  the  Lord  Mayor  in  reference  to  the  campaign 
of  mis-representation  in  the  English  Press : — 


' '  The  progress  of  the  agony  of  the  Lord  Mayor 
of  Cork,  symbolising  as  it  does  the  age-long 
struggle  of  his  country  for  her  freedom,  has  day 
by  day  increased  the  interest  and,  what  is  more 
important,  the  knowledge  of  the  Press  and  People 
of   Europe,    America,    Australia,    Africa,    and 


110    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

Asia,  not  alone  in  the  Lord  Mayor,  but  also  in 
the  cause  which  he  advances  by  his  suffering. 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  struggle  in 
Brixton  Prison,  most  of  the  organs  of  the  English 
Press  (then  apparently  not  subject  to  any 
particular  Government  control  or  instruction  on 
this  subject),  treated  the  matter  fairly,  or  as 
fairly  as  could  be  expected,  in  their  columns. 
As  the  interest  of  the  public  in  England  was 
stirred  by  the  reports  in  the  Press,  and  demon- 
strations were  taking  place  nightly  in  front  of 
Brixton  Prison,  the  English  Government,  got 
apprehensive,  and,  at  a  certain  stage,  the  Chief 
Commissioner  of  Police  issued  a  note  to  the 
members  of  the  Newspaper  Proprietors'  Associa- 
tion asking  them,  should  certain  information 
come  to  their  knowledge,  to  withhold  it  from 
publication.  Therefore  statements  given  to  the 
Press  by  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  Lord 
Mayor  were,  in  the  case  of  many  of  the  English 
papers,  distorted  from  their  proper  meaning, 
and,  in  many  instances,  absolutely  false  reports 
were  given,  words  and  statements  being 
attributed  to  the  relatives  and  friends  which 
they  had  never  used  or  made.  The  Lady 
Mayoress,  Miss  Mary  McSwiney,  Miss  Annie 
McSwiney,  and  Father  Dominic  (the  Lord 
Mayor's  Chaplain)  have  all  been  victims  of  this 
campaign  of  falsehood,  and  have  all  been  obliged, 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  to  write  letters  of 
contradiction  to  the  papers  concerned.  These 
letters  have,  at  times,  not  been  published,  or  have 
been  bowdlerised  beyond  recognition. 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        Ill 

*'  As  the  interest  of  the  struggle  of  the  Lord 
Mayor  extended  itself  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 
earth,  and  as  the  eyes  of  the  world  thereby  got 
more  and  more  riveted  on  the  struggle  between 
Ireland  and  England,  the  English  Government 
got  still  more  apprehensive  and  greater  efforts 
have  been  put  forth  in  an  endeavour  to  counteract 
the  telling  effects  made  by  the  statements  of  the 
relatives  and  friends  of  the  Lord  Mayor.  Higher 
authorities  than  Scotland  Yard  have  taken  a 
hand  in  the  attempt  to  discredit  the  relatives 
and  to  confuse  the  issue. 

"  The  Home  Office,  in  other  words  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  Home  Affairs,  has  issued 
statements,  which  where  not  false,  are  purposely 
misleading.  The  same  authority  has  further 
inspired  statements  in  the  English  Press,  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  case  of  the  Evening  News  for 
20th  September,  which  gave  figures  from  an 
*  Authoritative  Source  '  which  are  only  available 
for  publication  to  the  Home  Office.  This  same 
report  also  suggested  that  the  health  bulletins 
published  by  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  Lord 
Mayor  were  not  true.  The  report  further 
contained  statements  in  reference  to  the  Lord 
Mayor  which  were  false  and  misleading.  A 
letter  sent  tp  the  editor  of  the  Evening  News, 
controverting  these  statements  and  challenging 
him  to  produce  his  '  authoritative  source  '  and 
asking  for  the  same  prominence  to  be  given  to 
this  letter  as  to  the  original  report,  was  not 
published. 

'*  The     circumstances     related     above     have 


112    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

gradually  made  it  quite  evident  to  the  relatives 
and  friends  of  the  Lord  Mayor  that  a  deliberate 
campaign  of  misrepresentation  and  falsehood 
has  been  engineered  by  the  English  Government, 
and  that  the  English  Press  is  allowing  itself  to  be 
used  as  an  instrument  of  this  campaign.  In 
these  circumstances,  the  relatives  and  friends  of 
the  Lord  Mayor  have  decided  that,  after  the  issue 
of  this  present  statement  no  further  information 
either  by  personal  interview,  written  bulletin  or 
otherwise  will  be  given  to  any  organ  of  the 
English  Press,  or  to  any  English  News  Agency. 
They  will,  however,  continue  to  issue  bulletins  to 
the  Foreign  Press  and  Foreign  Agencies. 

"  In  arriving  at  this  decision,  the  relatives 
have  taken  into  account  that  some  organs  of  the 
English  Press  have  resisted  the  attempts  of  their 
Government  to  make  them  the  instruments  for 
this  despicable  campaign.  In  order,  however,  to 
make  it  still  more  clear  that  this  struggle  is  one, 
not  between  individuals,  but  between  the  two 
nations  of  Ireland  and  England,  they  deem  it 
advisable  to  break  relations  with  the  English 
Press  organisations  as  a  whole.  The  torture, 
agony,  and  slow  murder  of  the  Lord  Mayor 
affects  the  honour  of  the  nation  to  which  the 
English  Press  belongs  and,  just  as  the  Chief 
Commissioner  of  Police  issued  an  instruction 
to  the  Members  of  the  English  Newspaper 
Proprietors'  Association  to  suppress  certain 
news,  so  now  the  relatives  of  the  Lord  Mayor 
leave  it  with  the  members  of  that  Association  to 
protect  the  honour  of  their  nation  and  to  deal 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        113 

with   the   case   of   the   Lord    Mayor    on   those 
grounds. 

Signed: 

Muriel  McSwiney,  Lady  Mayoress  of  Cork 

Mary  McSwiney,  Sister  of  Lord  Mayor 

Annie  McSwiney,      ,,        ,,       ,,  ,, 

John  McSwiney,  Brother  of  Lord  Mayor." 


It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  the 
allegations  concerning  the  influencing  by  the 
Government  of  the  opinions  of  the  English  Press 
are  ridiculous,  and  show  a  strange  ignorance  of 
the  freedom  of  expression  enjoyed  by  the  English 
newspapers. 

McSwiney  died  at  5.30  a.m.  on  the  25th 
October,  despite  every  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
prison  authorities  to  keep  him  alive  and  induce 
him  to  take  food.  He  had  from  the  first  been 
given  every  possible  attention  and  comfort.  He 
was  constantly  attended  by  a  nurse,  and  his  room 
was  specially  kept  at  the  most  favourable 
temperature  for  prolonging  life.  The  spectacle 
of  a  strong  man  deliberately  committing  slow 
suicide  with  the  direct  encouragement  of  his 
friends  despite  every  effort  of  those  whom  he 
styled  his  *  enemies,'  the  British  Government,  is 
one  of  the  saddest  examples  of  the  utter  confusion 
of  thought  of  the  Republicans. 

The  lack  of  animus  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  shown  by  the  fact  that  McSwiney 's 
funeral  cortege,   decked  with  every  conceivable 

I 


114    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

Republican  emblem,  and  escorting  a  cofiBn  upon 
which  was  an  inscription  in  Republican  terms, 
was  allowed  to  pass  publicly  through  the  main 
streets  of  London  in  the  middle  of  the  day. 
Naturally,  however,  such  an  incitement  to 
rebellion  could  not  be  permitted  in  Ireland 
without  grave  risk  of  disorder  endangering 
innocent  lives.  The  funeral  party  were 
therefore  informed  during  their  journey  to 
Holyhead  that  a  special  steamer  had  been  placed 
at  their  disposal  to  convey  the  body  direct  to 
Cork,  together  with  twenty  of  the  mourners  and 
the  guard  of  honour.  The  purely  political 
outlook  of  the  Republicans  on  the  whole  pitiful 
incident  was  then  once  more  shown.  The  guard 
of  honour  and  McSwiney's  relatives  preferred  to 
proceed  direct  to  Dublin  in  order  to  take  part  in 
the  celebrations  which  had  been  prepared  there 
in  expectation  that  the  coffin  would  be  landed 
at  Kingstown;  whilst  the  body  of  Terence 
McSwiney  was  allowed  to  proceed  to  Cork 
unattended  by  mourners,  and  under  the  care  of  a 
party  of  the  R.I.C. 

The  day  prior  to  McSwiney's  arrest,  eleven 
prisoners  in  Cork  Gaol  had  begun  hunger- 
striking  in  order  to  secure  release.  These  men 
were  awaiting  Court  Martial  for  various 
offences,  and  adopted  the  method  of  abstension 
from  food  in  order  to  render  themselves  unfit  for 
trial.  The  official  statement  upon  the  matter 
is  as  follows : 

"  In  the  statement  on  the  subject  of  the 
hunger-strike  at  Cork  Prison,  issued  to  the  Press 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF   1920.         115 

on  16th  August,  it  was  made  clear  that 
prisoners  on  hunger-strike  awaiting  trial  who 
were  arrested  either  in  the  act  of  making 
murderous  attacks  upon  police  or  soldiers,  or 
upon  direct  and  clear  evidence  of  complicity  in 
such  attacks,  or  for  other  very  serious  offences, 
will  not  be  released  unless,  after  trial,  they  are 
acquitted  of  the  offence  with  which  they  have 
been  charged;  and  that  if,  in  consequence  of 
their  voluntary  abstension  from  food,  they 
render  themselves  unfit  to  take  their  trial,  the 
Government  must  disclaim  responsibility  in  the 
matter;  but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  been 
decided  temporarily  to  release  from  custody  a 
certain  number  of  prisoners  awaiting  trial  for 
less  serious  offences. 

' '  In  view  of  the  fact  that  many  of  those  who 
began  hunger-strike  on  11th  August  are  now  in 
such  a  state  of  health  that  it  has  been  necessary 
to  postpone  the  trials  fixed  for  them,  the  Govern- 
ment think  it  right,  in  order  that  there  may  be 
no  misunderstanding  as  to  their  action,  to  make 
public  the  offences  with  which  they  are  charged, 
and  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were 
arrested. 

*'  Michael  Fitzgerald.  This  man  is  charged 
with  having  murdered  Private  Jones  at  Fermoy 
on  September  7th  last.  He  was  duly  committed 
for  trial,  and  at  Cork  Assizes  on  21st  July  last 
a  true  Bill  was  found  against  him,  but  it  was 
impossible,  owing  te  the  absence  of  jurors,  to 
proceed  with  the  trial.  He  will  be  tried  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment. 


116    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

"  John  Power.  On  the  night  6th  August  a 
military  patrol  near  Fethard  alleges  that  it  found 
three  men,  of  whom  John  Power  was  one,  lying 
behind  a  hedge  with  two  guns  and  cartridges 
from  which  the  shot  had  been  extracted  and 
replaced  by  heavy  lead  slugs.  He  is  awaiting 
trial  by  Court  Martial. 

"  Thomas  Donovan,  Matthew  Reilly,  John 
Crowley,  Peter  Crowley,  Christopher  Upton. 
On  the  night  16th  July  a  party  of  police  entering 
Ballylanders  were  heavily  fired  .upon  from 
several  houses.  They  returned  the  fire,  where- 
upon a  patrol  of  military  and  police  near  by 
came  to  their  assistance,  entered  the  houses  from 
which  it  is  alleged  the  police  were  being  fired 
upon,  and  arrested  several  men  one  of  whom  was 
seriously  wounded.  These  men  are  awaiting  trial 
by  general  Court  Martial  in  connection  with  the 
occurrence. 

"  Michael  Burke.  This  man  was  arrested  on 
9th  August,  and  it  is  alleged  that  he  was  found 
in  possession  of  an  automatic  revolver,  which 
had  been  taken  from  Constable  Maloney,  who  was 
in  company  with  Sergeant  Tobin  when  Tobin  was 
murdered.  Burke  lives  about  three  miles  from 
the  scene  of  the  murder.  He  is  awaiting  trial 
by  Court  Martial. 

"  John  Hennessy.  This  man  is  charged  in 
connection  with  an  attack  by  a  party  of  armed 
men  on  a  military  lorry  at  Inchimore  on  28th 
July  last.  The  lorry  was  captured  and  burnt. 
He  is  awaiting  trial  by  Court  Martial. 

*'  Joseph  Murphy  and  Joseph  Kenny.     These 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        117 

men  were  arrested  on  various  dates  and  it  is 
alleged  that  they  were  in  possession  of  arms  or 
ammunition.  They  are  both  awaiting  trial  by 
Court  Martial." 

Michael  Fitzgerald  died  on  the  17th  October 
and  Joseph  Murphy  on  the  25th.  But  the 
firmness  of  the  Government  showed  the  futility 
of  prolonging  the  struggle.  On  the  12th 
November  Mr.  Arthur  Grifi&th,  the  '  Acting 
President  of  the  Irish  Republic,'  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork,  McSwiney's 
successor,  in  which  he  said  '*  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  our  countrymen  in  Cork  prison  have 
sufficiently  proved  their  devotion  and  fidelity, 
and  that  they  should  now,  as  they  were  prepared 
to  die  for  Ireland,  prepare  again  to  live  for  her." 
This  letter  was  transmitted  to  the  nine  surviving 
prisoners,  who  immediately  consented  to  receive 
nourishment. 

The  prompt  obedience  to  the  terms  of  this  letter 
show  that  the  official  heads  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
Movement  are  solely  to  blame  for  the  deaths  of 
McSwiney,  Fitzgerald,  and  Murphy.  If  they 
could  terminate  the  hunger-strike  when  they  did, 
they  could  have  done  so  as  soon  as  it  became  clear 
that  the  Government  would  not  give  way  upon 
the  question,  and  so  could  have  saved  the  lives 
of  their  followers.  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  Sinn  Fein  were  determined  to 
encourage  the  deaths  of  these  men,  in  order  to 
proclaim  them  martyrs  for  propaganda  purposes. 
It  is  a  poor  cause  which  would  treat  its  most 
devoted  adherents  so  callously. 


118    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

The  case  of  ArcHbishop  Mannix  caused  some 
sensation  during  the  early  part  of  August.  The 
Archbishop  had  long  been  a  fomenter  of  discord 
in  Australia,  where  he  had  made  several  speeches 
directed  against  the  British  Empire  and  the 
Government.  In  July  he  reached  America, 
where  he  repeated  his  oratorical  tirades,  and 
finally  announced  his  intention  of  landing  in 
Ireland.  He  embarked  on  the  Baltic  at  the 
end  of  the  month,  amid  a  display  of  enthusiasm 
by  Irish  sympathisers  in  New  York,  with  the 
intention  of  landing  at  Queenstown.  Owing, 
however,  to  the  danger  of  the  smuggling  of  arms 
and  ammunition  into  Ireland;  the  Government 
had  issued  an  order  that  eastward-bound  liners 
from  America  were  not  to  call  at  Queenstown, and 
this  order  did  not  come  into  operation  until  after 
the  Baltic  had  sailed  from  New  York.  Prepara- 
tions were  made  by  Republican  sympathisers  in 
Liverpool  to  welcome  Dr.  Mannix  on  his  arrival 
there,  and  it  seemed  likely  that  considerable 
disorder  would  take  place,  as  anti-Republicans 
had  expressed  their  intention  of  interfering  with 
the  demonstration. 

It  was  impossible  to  allow  Dr.  Mannix  to  land 
in  Ireland,  for  by  so  doing  fuel  would  only  have 
been  added  to  the  fires  of  unrest.  A  destroyer 
was  therefore  sent  to  intercept  the  Baltic,  and 
Dr.  Mannix  was  transferred  to  her  and  brought 
to  Penzance,  from  which  port  he  proceeded  to 
London. 

The  incident  caused  a  considerable  amount  of 
excitement  in  Dublin.     Bonfires  were  lighted  in 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        119 

many  places  throughout  the  City  on  the  9th 
August  in  honour  of  the  Archbishop,  and  as  a 
demonstration  against  his  exclusion  from 
Ireland.  A  patrol  of  soldiers  and  police  found 
a  party  of  men  round  one  of  these,  fires  after 
Curfew  hour,  and  attempted  to  effect  their 
arrest.  The  men  refused  to  halt  when 
challenged,  with  the  result  that  one  of  them  was 
shot  and  died  almost  immediately  afterwards. 
This  incident  had  the  unfortunate  effect  of 
eausing  an  outburst  of  feeling  against  the  troops, 
who  had  not  hitherto  been  interfered  with.  On 
the  night  of  August  13th  several  attacks  were 
made  on  detached  parties  of  soldiers,  one  man 
being  thrown  into  the  Liffey  and  only  rescued 
with  difficulty;  and  in  consequence  of  this  a 
number  of  soldiers  quartered  in  the  Castle  broke 
out  and  attacked  a  hostile  crowd  with  the  handles 
of  their  entrenching  tools.  A  few  stray  shots 
were  fired  at  them  as  the  crowd  ran  away,  but  no 
casualties  occurred. 

Both  the  McSwiney  and  Mannix  incidents 
were  not  without  their  sinister  influence  upon  an 
event  which  might  have  been  the  most  important 
in  recent  Irish  history,  the  meeting  of  the 
*'  Peace  Conference  "  in  Dublin  on  August  24th. 
The  importance  of  this  Conference  is  such  that 
the  circumstances  attending  it  may  well  be 
described  at  some  length. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  tendencies  of 
the  Irish  character  to  mistrust  any  offer  coming 
from  the  British  Government,  and  to  attribute 
any  catastrophe,  from  Sinn  Fein  outrage  to  the 


120    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

failure  of  the  potato  crop,  to  the  machinations 
of  that  Government.  There  is  consequently  no 
doubt  that  a  solution  of  the  Irish  problem 
emanating  from  the  Irish  themselves  would  stand 
a  far  better  chance  of  acceptance  in  Ireland  than 
an  alternative  solution  (although  possibly  more 
favourable  to  the  Irish)  emanating  from  the 
British  Government.  This  has  always  been 
universally  recognised,  and  by  no  one  more  clearly 
than  the  Prime  Minister.  On  many  occasions 
he  has  endeavoured  to  secure  from  the  responsible 
body  of  Irish  opinion  some  proposals  for  Irish 
self-government  upon  which  a  settlement  could  be 
based.  On  July  22nd  he  stated  to  a  Labour 
deputation  that  he  would  be  prepared  to 
negotiate  with  any  representative  body  <Df  Irish 
opinion.  Early  in  August  he  suggested  to  a 
deputation  of  Unionists  from  County  Cork 
that  they  should  endeavour  to  crystallise  Irish 
moderate  opinion  for  the  purpose  of  formulating 
definite  proposals  for  Irish  Home  Rule. 
Symptoms  were  not  wanting  throughout  the 
South  that  such  a  course  would  be  acceptable  to 
many  individuals  and  schools  of  thought.  The 
net  result  was  the  appearance  in  the  Irish  Press 
of  the  following  advertisement : — 

THE   IRISH  PEACE   CONFERENCE. 

INVITATION. 

*'  To    all    who    desire    peace    rather    than 
WAR  in  Ireland,  and  who  are  in  sympathy  with  : 

THE  RECENT  RESOLUTION  OF  THE  DUBLIN  CHAM- 


THE  LATTER  HALE  OF   1920.        121 

BER  OF  COMMERCE,  THE  ACTION  OF  THE  CORK 
DEPUTATION  TO  THE  PRIME  MINISTER,  THE  RECENT 
RESOLUTION  OF  THE  DEPUTY-LIEUTENANTS  AND 
MAGISTRATES  OF  QUEEN'S  COUNTY,  THE  RECENT 
RESOLUTION  OF  THE  UNIONIST  ANTI-PARTITION 

LEAGUE, 

and  who  are  willing  to  take  part  in  a  Conference, 
free  from  all  entanglement  with  any  political 
party,  association,  league,  or  group,  with  a  view 
to  securing  a  firm  offer  of  National  Self-Govern- 
ment  to  the  People  of  Ireland. 

THE  CONFERENCE  WILL  BE  HELD  ON 
TUESDAY,  24th  AUGUST. 

Please  apply  for  tickets  without  delay. 

PLEASE  NOTE — 

1.  Place  and  hour  of  meeting  will  be 
notified  later. 

2.  Applications  for  tickets  cannot  be 
answered  until  the  tickets  are 
actually  posted  towards  the  end  of 
this  week. 

Write  to — 

The  Hon.  Secretary, 

Irish  Peace  Conference  Offices, 
13,  St.  Stephen's  Green,  Dublin. 

The  Conference  met  on  Tuesday,  24th  August, 
and  it  seemed  as  though  the  destiny  of  misfortune 
that  is  claimed  for  the  Irish  presided  over  its 


122    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

birth.  The  preceding  week-end  had  witnessed 
one  of  the  worst  periods  in  the  campaign  of 
murder,  no  less  than  seven  members  of  the  police 
having  been  assassinated  in  widely  different 
parts  of  the  country.  The  McSwiney  hunger- 
strike  and  the  Mannix  incident  had  aroused 
many  sections  of  the  community  to  a  state  of 
mind  which  was  hardly  conducive  to  a  discussion 
of  peace.  The  Restoration  of  Order  Act  had 
just  come  into  force  in  an  atmosphere  tainted 
with  wilful  misunderstanding.  And,  beyond 
these  disturbing  influences,  there  was  a  brooding 
feeling  that  the  opportunity  was  lost,  that  the 
moderates,  in  allowing  the  country  to  be  captured 
by  Sinn  Fein,  had  forfeited  their  right  to  speak 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Nation. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  misfortunes  which 
surrounded  it,  the  Conference  was  not  entirely 
hopeless  from  its  inception.  It  was  quite  as 
representative  in  its  composition  as  could  have 
been  expected,  and  the  most  significant  feature 
of  it  was  that  it  was  called  together  not  by 
invitation  sent  to  individuals,  but  by  general 
advertisement  in  the  Press.  This  was  striking 
evidence  of  the  earnestness  of  the  desire  for 
peac«  by  those  who  attended  it.  Another 
feature  was  the  fact  that  the  assembly  contained 
leading  converts  from  both  extremes;  for 
instance,  Lord  Shaftesbury  from  extreme 
Unionism,  and  Mr.  Sweetman,  one  of  the 
original  founders  of  Sinn  Fein. 

The  Sinn  Fein  organisation,  while  taking  no 
part  in  the  Conference,  showed  tacit  consent  to 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.         123 

its  convening.  It  is  believed  that  Irish 
Volunteers  were  present  in  order  to  prevent 
interruption  or  disorder  by  individual  Sinn 
Feiners.  The  Limerick  Leader,  the  Sinn  Fein 
organ  of  the  Irish  town  most  in  sympathy  with 
Sinn  Fein,  declared  that  '  A  Peace  Conference 
in  Ireland  without  representatives  of  the 
majority  of  the  people  may  be  looked  upon  as 
staging  Hamlet  with  the  part  of  the  Prince  of 
Denmark  omitted,  but  no  one  can  deny  that  the 
lead  given  in  this  Conference  to  Irish  Moderates 
is  sound,  and  no  Irishman  can  deny  the  influence 
of  the  men  who  formed  the  meeting.'  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Unionist  Belfast  News  Letter 
stated  that  '  Irish  peace  is  something  for  which 
any  person  in  Ireland  with  any  feeling  of 
responsibility  is  hungering.' 

The  Conference  must  be  regarded  as  an  earnest 
effort  on  the  part  of  moderate  men  to  find  some 
basis  upon  which  an  equitable  and  lasting  settle- 
ment of  the  Irish  constitutional  question  could  be 
founded.  Among  those  present  were  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett,  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  Sir  Stanley 
Harrington,  Lord  MacDonnell,  Captain  Stephen 
Gwynn,  the  O'Connor  Don,  Col.  Sir  T. 
Hutcheson  Poe,  Sir  Nugent  Everard,  Lord 
Monteagle,  Lord  Athliminey,  Sir  Algernon 
Coote,  Mr.  Thomas  Lough,  Sir  Thomas  Grattan 
Esmonde,  The  High  Sheriff  of  Dublin  (Alderman 
Dr.  Mc Walter),  Sergeant  Hanna,  K.C.,  and  Mr. 
John  Sweetman.  The  last-named  gentleman 
was  one  of  the  original  founders  of  Sinn  Fein, 
but  he  is  not  now  connected  with  that  party. 


124    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

The  following  resolutions  which  were  proposed 
by  Lord  MacDonnell  were  carried  with  few 
dissentients : 

"1.  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Confer- 
ence, the  grant  of  full  Nationalist  self- 
government  within  the  Empire  can  alone 
bring  peace  to  Ireland,  and  that  complete 
administrative,      fiscal      and      financial 
independence   is   the   decisive   test   and 
characteristic   of    National    self-govern- 
ment. 
*'  2.  That     this     Conference     welcomes     the 
acceptance  by  North  East  Ulster  of  the 
principle      of      self-government,       and 
repudiates  the  coercion  by  armed  force  of 
any   part   of    Ireland,    and    that   while 
expressing  its  unalterable  repugnance  to 
any    form   of   partition   of   Ireland,    it 
recognises     that     in     any     negotiation 
concerning  the  relations  of  North  East 
Ulster  to  the  rest  of  Ireland,  the  former 
must  be  accorded  the  status  of  a  free 
contracting  party. 
**  3.  That  the  grant  of  such  National  self- 
government,    which   is   wholly   different 
from  the  provisions  of  the  Bill  for  the 
Better  Government  of  Ireland  at  present 
before  Parliament,   is  quite  compatible 
with     the     Prime     Minister's     recent 
declaration   of   the   Government's   Irish 
policy." 
In    submitting    the    above    resolutions    Lord 
MacDonnell    stated    that    he   accepted    the  two 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.         125 

limitations  laid  down  by  the  Prime  Minister  on 
the  Government's  willingness  to  re-open  the 
discussion  of  the  Irish  Question,  viz.  :  that  the 
demand  for  an  Independent  Eepublic  could  not 
be  considered  and  that  there  should  be  no  coercion 
of  Ulster.  On  the  latter  point,  however,  he 
claimed  that  it  was  not  inconsistent  with  the 
special  treatment  of  Ulster  that  Ireland  should 
have  complete  administrative,  fiscal  and  financial 
authority  over  her  own  revenue. 

The  proposals  embodied  in  these  resolutions 
were  regarded  by  many  of  the  speakers  as 
committing  the  Conference  to  the  adoption  of 
the  policy  of  Dominion  Home  Rule ;  but  this  view 
was  resisted  by  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  who 
advised  that  they  should  be  discussed  and 
accepted  without  reference  to  any  particular 
scheme  for  giving  them  practical  effect.  The 
most  important  criticism  came  from  Lord 
Shaftesbury  who,  while  expressing  himself  as 
otherwise  in  g^ieral  agreement  with  the 
proposals,  held  that  the  declaration  in  the  second 
resolution  regarding  Ulster's  acceptance  of  the 
principle  of  self-government  was  an  over- 
statement of  fact,  and  from  Mr.  Sweetman,  who 
urged  that  instead  of  putting  forward  a  state- 
ment of  agreement  on  general  principles  the 
Conference  would  be  better  advised  to  endorse  a 
practical  suggestion  which  had  been  made  by 
Lord  Hugh  Cecil  for  ascertaining  the  wishes  of 
the  Irish  people  and  for  giving  effect  thereto  if 
they  should  prove  to  be  compatible  with  the 
security  of  the  Empire.     The  suggestion  referred 


126    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

to  was  that  the  Government  should  withdraw 
their  present  Bill  and  substitute  therefor  a  Bill 
to  set  up  a  Constituent  Assembly  in  Ireland, 
empowered  to  formulate  and  present  to  Parlia- 
ment a  Bill  which  would  represent  whatever 
measure  of  agreement  could  be  attained  by  the 
Irish  people  themselves.  Lord  Hugh  Cecil 
proposed  that  this  Constituent  Assembly  should 
be  elected  on  a  basis  of  proportional  representa- 
tion, and  Mr.  Sweetman  urged  that  in  addition 
it  should  be  free  to  present  any  plan  it  pleased, 
including  a  plan  for  making  Ireland  an 
independent  Republic,  and  that  no  oath  of 
allegiance  should  be  required  from  any  member 
of  the  Assembly.  It  was  apparently  Mr. 
Sweetman 's  idea  that  proposals  of  a  moderate 
and  conciliatory  character  were  more  likely  to 
come  from  an  assembly  which  was  absolutely 
unfettered  than  from  a  body  working  under 
prescribed  restrictions. 

A  resolution  urging  the  immediate  release  of 
the  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork  in  the  interests  of 
conciliation  was  carried  unanimously  at  the 
commencement  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Conference,  and  later  the  following  resolution 
proposed  by  Mr.  Thomas  Lough  was  also 
carried  : 

'  *  That  this  Conference  calls  upon  the  Grovem- 
ment  in  the  interests  of  peace,  and  in  order  to 
create  a  suitable  atmosphere  for  a  policy  of 
general  appeasement  upon  the  lines  indicated  in 
the  preceding  resolutions,  to  abate  forthwith  the 
stringency  of  the  policy  of  repression  and  to 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.         127 

adopt  a  policy  of  amnesty,  and  pledges  itself,  if 
a  truce  be  thus  begun,  to  assist  in  the  formation 
of  local  Committees  of  Conciliation  for  the 
purpose  of  furthering  the  cause  of  local  and 
general  pacification." 

The  Conference  concluded  its  proceedings  by 
electing  a  Standing  Committee  to  communicate 
the  resolutions  passed  to  the  Prime  Minister  and 
the  Cabinet,  with  full  power  to  take  such  other 
steps  as  they  might  deem  necessary  to  give  effect 
to  the  resolutions,  and  to  reconvene  the  Confer- 
ence if  necessary. 

A  deputation  from  ti>e  Standing  Committee 
then  waited  upon  the  Lords  Justices  in  Dublin 
Castle  to  lay  before  them  the  resolutions  passed 
by  the  Conference  appealing  for  the  release  of 
the  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork  and  other  political 
prisoners.  The  deputation  was  received  by  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  General  Macready,  and  the 
Under  Secretary  (Sir  John  Anderson)  who  under- 
took to  forward  the  terms  of  the  resolution  to 
the  Government. 

It  will  be  observed  that  nothing  tangible 
resulted  from  the  sitting  of  the  Conference,  but 
it  was  hoped  that  the  Standing  Committee  would 
produce  more  definite  proposals.  On  the  larger 
issue,  it  became  daily  more  obvious  that  any  such 
Conference  must  be  regarded  as  of  a  purely 
academic  interest  so  long  as  no  abatement  could 
be  discovered  in  the  campaign  of  outrage.  And 
unfortunately  during  the  weeks  following  the 
Conference  this  campaign  increased  rather  than 
diminished  in  intensity.     Though  the  Moderates 


128    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

might  desire  a  settlement  of  the  Irish  Question 
which  would  be  acceptable  to  the  British  Govern- 
ment, they  were  powerless  to  restrain  the  lawless 
minority  determined  to  make  any  form  of  settle- 
ment impossible.  And  so  the  Conference  passed 
into  history,  having  failed  to  prove  that  it 
represented  any  body  of  Irish  opinion  which 
would  justify  the  Government  in  altering  the 
terms  of  the  Government  or  Ireland  Bill. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920 — (Continued.) 

We  may  now  revert  to  the  question  of  the 
punishment  of  offenders  against  the  peace.  As 
will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  j&gures  given  on 
page  99,  the  numbers  of  arrests  and  courts 
martial  have  steadily  increased.  Until  the 
Restoration  of  Order  in  Ireland  Act  came  into 
force  (see  page  412)  courts  martial  were  held 
under  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Regulations  and 
varying  sentences  were  imposed.  Courts  martial 
in  Ireland  are  precisely  regulated  by  the 
provisions  of  military  law,  and  these  are  such  as 
to  give  every  possible  security  to  the  accused,  as 
will  readily  be  admitted  by  all  who  have  any 
knowledge  of  court  martial  procedure.  In  many 
cases  the  records  of  the  courts  reveal  new 
phases  of  the  activities  of  the  Republicans.  A 
few  recent  examples  of  such  courts  martial  may 
be  of  interest. 

Cornelius   McNamara   of    Blackboy,    County 
Limerick,    was   sentenced   by   a   district   court 

J 


130    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

martial  held  at  Cork  on  September  15th  to  six 
months'  imprisonment  without  hard  labour,  for 
an  offence  under  Regxdation  27  D.R.R.  The 
evidence  showed  that  the  accused,  at  Garryowen 
on  July  I7th,  when  engaged  with  four  or  five  men 
in  making  a  house-to-house  collection,  was 
searched  by  the  police  and  a  manuscript  found 
in  his  pocket  as  follows : 

Boycott  of  the  R.I.C.  No.  6. 

' '  Volunteers  shall  have  no  intercourse  with 
the  R.I.C,  and  shall  stimulate  and  support  in 
every  way  the  boycott  of  this  force  as  ordered  by 
the  Dail.  Those  persons  who  associate  with  the 
R.I.C.  shall  be  subjected  to  the  same  boycott, 
and  the  fact  of  their  association  with  and 
toleration  of  this  infamous  force  shall  be  kept 
public  in  every  possible  way.  Definite  lists  of 
such  persons  in  the  area  of  his  command  shall  be 
prepared  and  retained  by  each  Company, 
Battalion  and  Brigade  Commander." 

William  Tynan  of  Ballybrittas,  Queen's 
County,  was  tried  before  a  district  court  martial 
held  at  Dublin  on  the  18th  September,  1920,  for 
offences  under  Reg.  27,  Reg.  79,  and  R^g.  18 
R.O.I.R.  and  Reg.  9AA  D.R.R.  The  evidence 
showed  that  on  searching  the  premises  of  Thomas 
Tynan,  the  father  of  the  accused,  a  number  of 
documents  and  eleven  sporting  cartridges  were 
found,  alleged  to  belong  to  the  accused.  The 
documents  included  the  following  : 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        131 


"  IRISH  REPUBLICAN  ARMY." 

To  Commandant.  Brigade  Headquarters. 

Battalion. 

A  Chara, 

You  will  furnish  answers  to  the  accompanying 
queries. 

Brigade  Adjutant. 

Subject  "  Police  Boycott  " 

Query.  Reply. 

1.  How  has  boycott  been  declared 
in  your  area? 

2.  What  are  the  visible  results  of 
Boycott  Order? 

3.  Do  general  population  speak 
to  members  of  the  R.I.C.? 

4.  Has  a  list  been  compiled  of 
persons  who  are  "  friendly  " 
with  the  police? 

6.  Are  police  forced  to  com- 
mandeer supplies? 

6.  Have  merchants  been  ordered 
to  refuse  supplies? 

7.  What  steps  have  been  taken  to 
deal  with  persons  who  disobey 
the  Order? 

8.  Have  you  any  suggestions  to 
offer  as  a  means  of  intensi- 
fying the  boycott  in  your  Area? 


132    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

A  copy  of  An  T'Oglac,  the'ofiScial  organ  of  the 
Irish  Volunteers,  containing  the  following 
passage  was  also  found  : 

**  Some  of  the  failures  to  take  police  barradis 
were  excusable;  some  were  inexcusable.  There  is 
not  a  barrack  in  the  country  that  cannot  be  taken 
if  proper  methods  are  employed,  but  no  fortified 
building  was  ever  taken  by  firing  rifle  shots  at  it 
from  a  distance.  Volunteers  who  go  out  on  such 
an  attack  must  go  out  with  their  minds  made  up 
that  they  are  going  to  win.  In  the  lexicon  of  the 
Volunteers  there  must  be  no  such  word  as 
'  fail.'  " 

The  accused,  who  refused  to  recognise  the 
Court,  was  found  guilty  of  the  charges  under 
Reg.  27  R.O.I.R.  and  Reg.  9AA  D.R.R.,  and 
sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  with  hard  laJ)our  for 
eighteen  months. 

John  Cottrell,  of  Graigue-na-managh,  County 
Kilkenny,  was  tried  by  a  District  Court  Martial 
which  assembled  at  Cork  on  the  l7th  September, 
1920,  for  an  offence  against  Reg.  27  of  the 
R.O.I.R.  The  evidence  showed  that  on  a  search 
being  made  of  the  licensed  premises  of  Mr,  Joyce, 
Maine  Street,  Graigue-na-managh,  on  24th 
August,  1920,  there  were  found  in  a  room 
upstairs  some  photographs  of  the  accused  and  a 
waistcoat  in  the  pocket  of  which  was  a  paper 
signed  ' '  Kit  ' '  to  the  following  effect : 

' '  I  am  going  to  Ballymurphy  and  will  be  back 
as  soon  as  possible,  if  you  think  we  could  take  the 
barrack  send  for  all  the  Innistiege  men.  I  am 
going  to  Gowran  to-morrow  so  arrange  for  nine 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        133 

more  men  with  cycles  or  a  waggonette,  make  the 
usual  collection  at  Parade  to-night  and  use  your 
own  judgment  in  all  things. ' ' 

The  accused,  who  refused  to  recognise  the 
Court,  stated  that  he  had  never  seen  the  paper 
before.  He  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  with  hard  labour  for  one  year. 

Patrick  Landers  of  Listowel  was  tried  by  a 
District  Court  Martial  held  at  Limerick  on  the 
21st  September,  1920,  for  offences  against 
Regs.  27  and  79  R.O.I.R.  The  evidence  showed 
that  on  searching  the  bedroom  of  the  accused  on 
the  night  August  12th/ 13th  in  Mrs.  Nolan's 
public-house  at  Listowel,  a  number  of  documents 
were  found  including  confidential  R.I.C.  reports. 
The  accused  was  arrested  on  3rd  September,  and 
when  searched  foimd  to  be  in  possession  of  the 
following  documents  : —  * 

"  Gentlemen,  Monday,  August  9th,  1920. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Batt.  Council  of  the  North 
Kerry  Battalion,  I.R.A.,  held  on  yesterday,  it 
was  decided  that  *  should  any  solicitor  refuse  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Bail  Eireann  before 
entering  a  Parish  or  District  Court,  he  is  not  to 
be  allowed  to  plead  at  any  of  these  Courts.' 

Should  any  solicitor  be  allowed  to  act  who 
refuses  to  take  the  oath,  the  services  of  the 
Volunteers  will  be  immediately  withdrawn. 

(Signed)    P.  Landers,  Listowel. 
J.  SuGRUE,  Listowel. 
S.  Grady,  Lixnaw." 

The  accused  refused  to  recognise  the  Court, 


134    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

but  stated  that  the  above  letter  was  a  copy  and 
not  written  by  him.  He  was  found  guilty  of  an 
offence  against  Reg.  27  R.O.I.R.,  and  sentenced 
to  12  months  imprisonment  without  hard  labour. 

James  Cullen  was  sentenced  to  three  months' 
imprisonment  without  hard  labour  by  a  District 
Court  Martial  held  at  Cork  on  28th  September, 
1920,  for  having  in  his  possession,  contrary  to 
Regulation  27  R.O.I.R.,  a  copy  of  the  official 
organ  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  containing  the 
following  : — 
"  Arrival  of  English  Cavalry. 

In  view  of  the  arrival  of  English  Cavalry 
Regiments  in  Ireland  the  Company  Captains  of 
the  Irish  Republican  Army  in  areas  where  these 
Cavalry  units  are  quartered  will  immediately 
take  steps  to  give  their  companies  a  thorough 
training  in  fighting  against  mounted  troops. 
The  following  suggestions  for  their  guidance  will 
be  found  instructive  : — 

1.  The  engagements  in  '98  at  Old  KilcuUen, 
Saintfield,  Tubberneoring,  and  Ballyellis  should 
be  carefully  studied  and  explained  to  the  men. 
They  were  all  victories  of  badly  trained  and 
badly  armed  men,  but  determined  and  well 
handled  infantry  over  cavalry. 

2.  The  men  will  be  taught  to  select  ground 
unsuitable  for  cavalry,  to  improve  that  ground 
by  spikes  and  other  handy  obstacles,  and  to  act 
in  formation  so  offering  no  suitable  mark  for 
cavalry  attack. 

3.  Attention  will  be  directed  to  the  possibility 
of  ambushing  mounted  columns  on  the  march — 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        135 

especially    at    night — and    the    helplessness    of 
horsemen  in  such  circumstances. 

4.  Care  must  be  taken  to  impart  instruction 
for  dealing  with  single  horsemen  or  small 
mounted  bodies.  In  this  respect  the  men  must 
be  trained  individually. 

5.  The  individual  infantry  man  must  be 
instructed  in  the  use  of  all  weapons  against 
cavalry.  Especially  is  it  necessary  to  understand 
how  to  disable  or  disorganise  the  horses. 

6.  Action  against  the  led  horses  when  all  or 
some  of  the  cavalry  dismount  is  also  to  be  studied. 

7.  English  cavalry  are  not  instructed  in  how 
to  use  their  fire-arms  with  effect  when  mounted; 
they  are  thus  vulnerable  unless  able  to  deliver  a 

"charge. 

8.  If  the  mounts  of  a  unit  include  a  number 
of  mares  in  season,  the  neighbourhood  of  a 
stallion  will  occasion  disorder.  In  1870  a  French 
Cavalry  regiment  horsed  with  Arab  stallions 
caused  considerable  trouble  in  Lorraine.  Com- 
pany Captains  are  recommended  to  map  out 
their  scheme  of  instruction  beforehand  which 
will  make  for  clearness  and  brevity." 

Shamus  O'Neil,  John  O'Keefe  and  Edward 
McGrath  were  charged  before  a  district  court 
martial  held  at  Cork  on  1st  October,  1920,  with 
unlawful  assembly,  and  under  Reg.  79,  R.O.I.R. 
with  doing  an  act  calculated  to  promote  the 
objects  of  an  unlawful  association.  The  accused 
refused  to  recognise  the  Court. 

The  evidence  showed  that  at  Blackcastle,  Co. 


136    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

Tipperary,  on  the  15th  September,  1920,  at  about 
3-30  p.m.,  a  mounted  military  patrol  saw  men 
running  out  of  a  farm  outhouse.  In  giving  chase 
military  were  shot  at.  Fourteen  bicycles  were 
found  in  an  adjacent  wood,  also  a  haversack 
containing  intelligence  reports  and  some  50 
rounds  of  ammunition.  The  documents  included 
the  following : — 

Intell.  Dept., 
1st  Batt. 

Tipp.  No.  3  Bde. 
"  To  Bde  Chief  of  Intell.  4—9—20. 

1.  Orderly  limerick  junction  reports  that 
a  patrol  of  6  peelers  from  junction  bks.  patrol 
the  main  road  on  three  nights  each  week. 
Patrols  are  termed  "  rising  patrols."  They 
leave  Brks,  between  12  midnight  and  3  a.m. 
The  Sgt.  in  charge  of  Brks.  always  accompanies 
patrol.  Patrol  generally  goes  out  on  Saturday 
and  SUNDAY  nights  and  one  night  during  week. 
Orderly  can  have  moved  at  7  p.m.  any  night  this 
patrol  is  going  out.  ^t.  of  Intell. 

2.  Despatch  rider  for  yesterday  didn't  arrive 
back  yet.  It  is  rumoured  that  two  were  captured 
yesterday  and  are  in  military  Brks.  here.  If 
our  despatch  rider  was  captured,  the  names  of 
Coy.,  Capts.  and  all  officers  in  Stn.  8  were  got  on 
him  as  well  as  all  bde.  Adjts.  papers. 

(Sgn.)     L.O.I." 
John  O'Keefe  stated  that  he  ran  in  a  spirit 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.         137 

of  self  preservation.  Shamus  O'Neil  stated  that 
he  did  not  consider  case  proved.  Edward 
McGrath  stated  he  had  never  seen  the  haversack. 

The  accused  were  found  guilty  of  the  second 
charge  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  with  hard 
labour  for  a  period  of  two  years. 

Be^rnard  Mallon  and  Michael  Mallon,  of  Derry- 
chrin,  Eglish,  Patrick  Crawford,  of  Coalisland, 
and  Thomas  Morris,  of  Moneymore,  Co.  Tyrone, 
were  charged  before  a  District  Court  Martial 
held  at  Londonderry  on  the  15th  October,  1920, 
with  offences  under  the  D.R.R.  and  R.O.I. R. 

The  evidence  showed  that  when  the  house  of 
Bernard  Mallon,  senior,  at  Eglish  was  searched 
on  the  morning  of  15th  September,  a  loaded 
revolver  was  found  under  the  bed  which  had  been 
occupied  by  Bernard  Mallon,  junior,  and  Michael 
Mallon.  Immediately  outside  the  window  of 
another  room  occupied  by  Patrick  Crawford  and 
Thomas  Morris  a  second  revolver  was  found 
also  loaded.  In  a  coat  which  Thomas  Morris 
-afterwards  put  on,  a  letter  was  discovered 
addressed  to  a  car  owner  in  the  district,  in  the 
following  terms : — 

"  H.Q.,  SINN 

Co.  Derry,  fein 

I.R.A.  CREST. 

To.    .    .    . 

You  are  hereby  ordered  not  to  drive  any  more 
Police  or  Military.  Failing  to  comply  with  same 
you  will  be  doomed  and  #ot  your  car  as 
compensation  would  have  to  be  paid  by  that 


138     ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

district.      So   you   have   now   been   put   under 
observation  by  the  I.R.A. 

Any  further  report  of  your  misconduct  will 
lead  to  your  death. 

H.Q., 

Co.  Derry, 
I.R.A." 

All  the  accused  refused  to  recognise  the  Court. 
They  were  found  guilty  of  having  fire-arms  and 
ammunition  without  a  permit.  Morris  was  also 
foimd  guilty  of  an  offence  under  Reg.  27 
R.O.I.R.  The  two  Mallons  and  Crawford  were 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  with  hard  labour  for 
eighteen  months.  Morris  was  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  with  hard  labour  for  two  years. 

We  may  refer  here  to  the  court  martial  on 
Kevin  Berry  which  created  some  attention  at  the 
time  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  the  first  court 
martial  in  Ireland  on  a  capital  charge  which 
resulted  in  the  hanging  of  the  accused.  The 
circumstances  were  as  follows  : — 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th  September  an 
unarmed  ration  party  from  Collinstown  Camp 
called  at  Monk's  Bakery  in  Upper  Church  Street, 
Dublin,  with  a  motor  lorry,  in  order  to  draw 
bread  for  the  troops.  The  party  consisted  of 
a  non-commissioned  officer,  a  driver,  and  two 
fatigue  men,  and  was  accompanied  by  an 
armed  escort  of  six  men.  They  reached 
the  bakery  at  11  o'clock,  and  the  n.c.o. 
and  two  fatigue#men  went  into  the  passage 
leading    into    the    bakery,    leaving    the    lorry 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF   1920.        139 

in  charge  of  the  armed  escort.  While  they 
were  absent  four  men  dressed  in  ordinary 
civilian  clothes  were  seen  walking  down  Church 
Street.  When  these  men  came  up  to  the  lorry 
they  produced  revolvers  and  shouted  to  the  escort 
to  put  their  hands  up  and  to  hand  over  their 
arms.  As  they  did  so  they  opened  fire,  with  the 
result  that  one  man  of  the  escort,  Private 
Washington,  was  shot  dead,  and  two.  Privates 
Whitehead  and  Humphries,  mortally  wounded  in 
the  abdomen.  These  two  men  were  subsequently 
removed  to  hospital  and  operations  performed, 
in  the  course  of  which  a  bullet  fell  from  Private 
Whitehead's  body.  The  operations  were  un- 
availing, and  the  men  died  the  same  day. 
Having  fired  upon  the  escort,  some  of  the 
attackers  rushed  up  the  street,  being  joined  by 
other  men. 

Meanwhile  in  the  bakery  itself  the  ration 
party  had  been  attacked.  One  of  the 
privates  was  wounded  in  the  ankle,  the  other 
in  the  elbow.  The  latter  stated  that  as  he  was 
going  up  the  passage  he  heard  shouts  of  "  Hands 
up !  "  and  on  turning  round  saw  fifteen  or  twenty 
men  firing  at  the  lorry.  The  n.c.o.  managed  to 
get  back  to  the  lorry  and  arm  himself  with  a 
rifle.  He  then  found  a  man  lying  underneath 
the  lorry  with  an  automatic  pistol  in  his  hand. 
This  man  was  arrested  and  proved  to  be  Kevin 
Berry,  or  Barry,  a  *  corporal  '  in  the  Irish 
Republican  Army  and  a  medical  student.  He 
was  taken  to  the  North  Dublin  Union,  and  there 
he    stated    that   he   had   been    ordered    by    an 


140    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

*  officer,'  presumably  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Army,  to  attack  the  lorry  that  morning  and  to 
seize  the  arms  and  ammunition  of  the  escort. 

Kevin  Berry  was  tried  by  general  court  martial 
at  Dublin  on  the  20th  October,  charged  with  the 
wilful  murder  of  Privates  Whitehead,  Washing- 
ton, and  Humphries,  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington's 
Regiment.  The  case  concerning  Private  White- 
head was  taken  first.  Berry  refused  to  be 
professionally  represented,  and  declined  to 
recognise  the  Court  or  to  make  any  statement. 
In  the  course  of  the  evidence  two  members  of  the 
escort  identified  the  accused  as  one  of  the  men 
who  fired  into  the  lorry,  and  as  having  actually 
fired  the  shot  which  killed  Private  Washington. 
The  bullet  found  in  Private  Whitehead's  body 
corresponded  exactly  with  those  found  in  Berry's 
pistol,  which  showed  evidence  of  having  been 
recently  discharged.  Berry  was  found  guilty  of 
the  wilful  murder  of  Private  Whitehead,  and 
accordingly  the  charges  concerning  the  other  two 
murdered  men  were  not  proceeded  with.  The 
Court  sentenced  the  accused  to  be  hanged,  and 
the  sentence  was  duly  confirmed. 

Many  appeals  were  made  for  reprieve,  chiefly 
based  on  the  fact  that  Berry  was  only  eighteen 
years  of  age.  The  plea  was  invalidated  by  the 
fact  that  the  murdered  men  were  only  a  year  or 
two  older.  The  Army  in  Ireland  is  a  young 
army,  and  the  murderers  have  never  allowed  this 
consideration  to  hinder  assassination.  For 
instance,  Private  Squibb,  of  the  Hampshire 
Regiment,   murdered  at   Cork  on  August  8th, 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.         141 

1920,  was  only  seventeen  at  the  time.  The  sen- 
tence on  Berry  was  duly  carried  out  at  Mountjoy 
Prison,  Dublin,  on  the  1st  of  November  at  8  a.m. 
The  records  of  some  of  the  leaders  of  the 
murder  organisations  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
type  of  man  with  which  the  authorities  are  called 
upon  to  deal.  Michael  Collins,  the  '  Adjutant 
General  '  and  chief  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Army,  is  a  member  of  Dail  Eireann,  having  been 
elected  for  South  Cork,  and  is  responsible  for  the 
administration  of  its  finances  under  the  title  of 
Aire  Aergid,  or  Minister  of  Finance.  He  is  thus 
a  definite  link  between  An  Dail  and  the  murder 
gangs.  He  is  the  son  of  Michael  Collins,  a  small 
farmer  of  Woodfield,  near  Rosscarbery,  County 
Cork,  and  was  born  in  1890,  being  educated  at 
the  National  School.  He  left  home  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  lived  for  a  while  at  Cork,  and  then  went 
to  London,  where  he  was  employed  in  the  Sorting 
Branch  of  the  General  Post  Office.  Fear  of 
conscription  drove  him  from  England.  He 
returned  to  Ireland  in  March,  1916,  and  became 
a  clerk  to  a  firm  of  Chartered  Accountants 
in  Dublin.  He  took  part  in  the  Easter 
Week  rebellion,  was  subsequently  interned  at 
Frongoch,  but  was  released  in  December,  1916. 
Returning  to  Dublin,  he  became  secretary  to  the 
Sinn  Fein  orgapisation,  also  acting  secretary  to 
the  Irish  National  Aid  Association,  a  body 
formed  to  assist  rebel  prisoners  and  their 
relatives.  He  also  became  Adjutant  General  of 
the  Irish  Volunteers,  and  personally  commanded 
the  Volunteer   Guard  on   the  occasion  of  the 


142    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

funeral    of    0' Donovan    Rossa    in    Dublin. 

Collins  spent  the  greater  part  of  1917  touring 
the  country  and  making  turbulent  and  seditious 
speeches.  At  Skibbereen  he  stated  publicly  that 
the  policy  of  the  Volunteers  was  to  punish 
British  military  or  police  officers  if  any  harm 
was  done  to  Volunteer  officers.  He  addressed 
meetings  in  uniform  at  Longford,  and  made  a 
speech  urging  that  police  barracks  should  be 
attacked  and  arms  seized.  For  this  speech  he 
was  summoned  and  returned  for  trial.  He  gave 
bail  but  did  not  appear,  and  a  warrant  was  issued 
for  his  arrest.  He  has  been  '  on  the  run  '  ever 
since. 

Daniel  Breen,  for  whom  a  reward  of  £1,000 
was  offered,  is  a  criminal  of  a  somewhat  different 
type.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Army,  in  which  he  holds  the  rank  of 
Commandant  of  the  Third  Tipperary  Brigade. 
He  was  formally  a  labourer,  and  is  now  27  years 
of  age.  He  first  attained  notoriety  in  criminal 
circles  in  1919,  in  connection  with  the  Solo  Head 
Beg  outrage.  This  was  the  first  murder  of 
members  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  since 
the  Easter  Week  rebellion  of  1916.  On  21st 
January,  1919,  two  constables,  James  McDonnell 
and  Patrick  O'Connell,  were  escorting  a  car 
carrying  gelignite  for  use  in  Solo  Head  Beg 
Quarry  near  Tipperary.  They  were  ambushed 
by  six  or  seven  armed  men,  of  whom  Breen  was 
one,  and  shot  dead,  the  gelignite  being  stolen. 
Breen  is  suspected  of  complicity  in  many  other 
murders,  the  latest  of  which  is  the  murder  of 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        143 

Major  Smyth  and  Captain  White  at  Drumcondra 
on  the  11th  October,  1920. 

Breen's  immediate  associate,  John  Tracy,  the 
Vice- Commandant  of  the  Third  Tipperary 
Brigade  I.R.A.,  was  shot  dead  during  a  raid  by 
the  troops  on  notorious  Republican  premises  in 
Talbot  Street,  Dublin,  on  the  14th  October,  1920. 
He  first  appeared  publicly  in  1917,  when  De 
Valera  visited  Tipperary.  Tracy  on  this 
occasion  commanded  a  Volunteer  *  Guard  of 
Honour  '  in  uniform.  He  was  prosecuted  and 
sentenced  to  imprisonment,  but  secured  his 
release  by  hunger-striking.  He  was  concerned 
with  Breen'and  another  man  named  Hogan  in 
the  Solo  Head  Beg  affair,  and  had  been  '  on  the 
run  '  ever  since.  Hogan  was  arrested  and  taken 
to  Thurles  police  barracks.  Tracy  and  his 
accomplices  attacked  the  escort  which  was  con- 
veying Hogan  to  prison  at  Knockalong  Railway 
Station,  murdered  two  of  the  escort,  and  rescued 
Hogan.  Tracy  was  next  concerned  in  the  attack 
at  Oola  on  the  mail  lorry  in  which  General  Lucas 
was  escaping  from  the  hands  of  the  Sinn  Feiners. 
A  soldier  died  of  wounds  sustained  in  this  affair. 
In  endeavouring  to  escape  from  Talbot  Street  he 
committed  his  last  murder,  that  of  one  of  the 
soldiers  engaged  in  his  arrest.  He  was  shot  dead, 
and  a  clip  of  pistol  cartridges  with  dum-dum 
bullets  was  found  in  his  pocket. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  there  was  strong 
evidence  that  the  failure  of  the  murder  campaign 
to  achieve  the  desired  result  had  caused  a  great 


144    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

weakening  of  the  influence  of  Sinn  Fein.  This 
evidence  may  well  be  summarised  here,  but  before 
this  is  done  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  this 
weakening  of  influence  is  not  in  itself  sufficient 
to  end  the  murder  campaign.  At  the  head  of 
the  terrorists  are  many  men  who  could  not  hope 
to  escape  the  capital  penalty  should  they  be 
captured,  and  these  men  will  strain  every  nerve 
to  wreck  the  course  of  justice  before  they  meet 
their  inevitable  fate.  Desperate  deeds  continue 
to  occur,  but  Ireland  as  a  whole  has  no  sympathy 
with  them,  and  there  are  signs  that  vndely 
differing  opinions  in  the  country  are  combining 
to  put  an  end  to  them.  And  it  is  only  when 
public  opinion  refuses  to  tolerate  outrage  that 
true  peace  can  be  restored. 

The  main  heads  of  evidence  concerning  the 
crumbling  of  Sinn  Fein  authority  are,  very 
briefly,  as  follows  : — 

The  Sinn  Fein  Courts  (referred  to  on  page  90), 
although  instituted  with  a  great  flourish  of 
trumpets,  were  soon  proved  to  be  inefficient  and 
incapable  of  enforcing  their  findings.  The  people 
lost  confidence  in  them  and  preferred  to  bring 
their  cases  before  the  legally  constituted  British 
Courts.  A  short  experience  of  Republican 
judicial  practice  had  taught  them  that  in  this 
respect  at  least  Sinn  Fein  was  incapable  of  carry- 
ing out  its  undertakings- 

The  failure  of  the  campaign  against  the  police 
was  so  marked  that  even  the  most  fervent 
supporters  of  Sinn  Fein  could  not  fail  to  notice 
it.     Far  from  the  numbers  and  morale  of  the 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        145 

Police  Forces. diminishing,  they  increased  at  an 
unexpected  rate.  The  figures  of  strength  of  the 
Forces  alone  are  sufficient  to  show  this.  The 
total  strength  of  the  R.I.C.,  including  the 
Auxiliary  Envision  of  Temporary  Cadets,  was, 
on  the  19th  September,  9856.  By  November  21st 
it  had  risen  to  11,766.  On  the  same  date  the 
strength  of  the  Auxiliary  Division  alone  was  969, 
as  a  result  of  some  five  months'  recruiting. 
The  Force  was  enabled  to  extend  from  its 
concentration,  and  to  re-occupy  stations  from 
which  it  had  previously  been  withdrawn. 

During  the  year  it  had  become  the  policy  of 
Sinn  Fein  to  induce  the  local  authorities  to 
withdraw  their  allegiance  from  the  Local 
Government  Board  and  to  recognise  only  the 
authority  of  Dail  Eireann.  This  policy  soon 
proved  futile,  and  many  leading  local  authorities 
realised  that  their  only  chance  of  effective 
working  was  alliance  with  the  British 
authorities.  During  November,  for  instance, 
County  Galway  Council*,  which  had  proved 
recalcitrant  for  some  months,  issued  instructions 
to  their  rate  collectors  to  place  all  moneys  to  the 
credit  of  the  legally  constituted  treasurer. 

The  attempt  of  Sinn  Fein  to  induce  the 
railwaymen  to  persist  in  their  policy  of  refusing 
to  convey  troops  and  munitions  met  with  no 
support  in  the  Irish  Press.  As  soon  as  the  issue 
reached  the  point  where  no  alternative  was 
possible  to  the  closing  of  the  railway  system  as  a 
whole,  the  men  yielded.    This  was  a  distinct  blow 

•  See  also  page  417. 


146    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

to  the  authority  of  Sinn  Fein,  which  had 
instigated  the  refusals  from  the  first*. 

The  firmness  of  the  Government  on  the  question 
of  hunger-striking  brought  about  a  complete 
surrender  of  this  policy  by  the  '  Acting 
President  '  himself  t. 

The  economic  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon 
Sinn  Fein  by  frequent  seizures  of  funds  held  by 
the  various  organisations  is  as  complete  as  the 
preventive  pressure.  Tv^o  captured  letters  well 
illustrate  these  points.  The  first  of  these  is 
addressed  to  Terence  McSwiney,  then  Lord 
Mayor  of  Cork  and  '  Commandant  of  the  First 
Cork  Brigade,  I.R.A.,'  and  was  found  on  the 
premises  of  John  O'Connell,  the  '  Captain  of  the 
Queenstown  Co.  I.R.A. '  It  is  dated  25th  May, 
1920,  and  reads  as  follows  : — 

'*  The  drain  on  our  prisoners'  dependants  fund 
is  £20  per  week.  .  .  .  The  bearer  of  this  letter 
is  Sean  (John)  O'Connell,  just  released  from 
Wormwood.  He  organised  and  carried  out 
successfully  the  capture  of  six  rifles  at  Rush- 
brooke  last  February,  and  his  arrest  was 
accomplished  soon  after.  This  resulted  in 
his  dismissal  from  Haulbowline  Dockyard. 
Although  we  allow  himself  and  his  people  £3 
weekly  we  cannot  do  so  for  long  more.  His 
brother  was  out  in  Easter  Week  with  himself  and 
our  small  section  and  surely  his  case  deserves  our 
attention.     Above  is  one  of  many  similar  cases, 

*  See  page  250.       t  See  page  117. 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        147 

and  where  we  suffer  in  common  for  the  cause  we 
might  also  unite  in  helping  each  other." 

The  Rushbrooke  affair  referred  to  in  this  letter 
was  the  capture  and  disarming  of  four  soldiers 
by  twenty  armed  and  masked  men.  One  of  the 
former,  Corporal  Gooder,  of  the  Sherwood 
Foresters,  was  murdered  in  the  affray. 

The  second  letter  is  addressed  to  Daniel  Breen. 
It  is  dated  26th  September,  1920,  and  contains 
one  of  the  earliest  indications  of  the  intentions  of 
the  terrorists  to  extend  their  activities  to 
England. 

**  Tipperary  No  3  Brigade. 
26—9—20. 

**  Re  yours  to  the  Chief  of  Staff.*  For  God's 
sake,  Dan,  have  a  bit  of  sense.  What  the  hell 
do  you  or  I  need  to  care  about  the  Dublin 
Corporation?  Besides,  Dan,  the  evidence  that 
Beatie  really  was  there  to  bum  the  Town  Hall 
wouldn't  hang  a  cat  in  any  court  of  justice. t 
Of  course  he  may  really  have  been  one  of  the 
burners  and  the  Corporation  may  be  wrong,  but 
is  that  any  reason  why  everyone  in  the  army§ 
should  get  out  and  leave  it  all  to  the  Dublin 
Corporation?  I  should  think  not.  Try  to 
reconsider  the  whole  matter  and  let  me  know. 
I'll  hold  over  your  resignation  until  I  hear  from 

*  Richard  Mulcahy,  one  of  the  ablest  members  of  the 
murder  gang.     See  Appendix  B. 

t  This  appears  to  refer  to  the  burning  of  Tipperary  Town 
Hall  some  time  previously. 

§  The  I.R.A. 


148    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

you.  E.  Dwyer  is  resigning  because  there  is  too 
much  fight.  He  thinks  the  enemy's  way  of 
burning  is  a  knockout  blow  to  active  service.  I 
felt  like  chucking  it  myself  because  like  yourself 
I  think  things  are  too  slow  and  that  we  should 
burn  England,  but  there  is  such  a  lot  of  terror 
creeping  into  the  Republican  Ranks  that  my 
monkey  is  up  and  I  will  see  matters  through  this 
crisis  if  I  can.  Re  yours  to  myself.  I  quite 
agree  with  you,  Dan,  and  I  don't  at  all  think 
your  idea  a  bit  too  wild.  As  to  your  suggestion 
of  a  South  Tipp.  Contingent  going  to  England, 
I'll  speak  to  G.H.Q.  on  the  matter.  However,  I 
believe  G.H.Q.  is  quite  alive  to  facts.  They 
don't  want  to  start  till  the  world  sees  England's 
acts  clearly.  That  takes  a  little  time,  I  assure 
you.    Write  soon,  cheerio." 

The  allusion  to  Dwyer  in  the  above  letter  is 
interesting.  Edward  Dwyer  was  *  Adjutant  G 
Company  1st  Battalion  3rd  Tipperary  Brigade, 
I.R.A.'  Francis  Dwyer,  his  brother,  was 
*  Captain  F  Company  '  of  the  same  battalion  and 
brigade.  They  were  shot  dead  by  masked 
men  outside  their  houses  at  Ballydavid,  near 
Tipperary,  about  11  p.m.  on  the  18th  October, 
1920.  It  is  not  too  much  to  infer  that  they 
were  suspected  of  dangerous  weakness  by  their 
accomplices,  and  paid  the  invariable  penalty  in 
such  cases. 

Having  now  glanced  at  the  evidence  of  the 
weakening  of  Sinn  Fein  influence,  we  may  well 
consider  what  is  the  natural  corollary  of  such 


THE   LATTER  HALF   OF   1920.        149 

weakening.  The  position  of  the  authorities  grows 
stronger  every  day,  the  troops  and  police  are 
learning  the  best  methods  of  dealing  with 
assassins  in  a  country  admirably  suited  to  the 
operations  of  the  latter,  and  are  undoubtedly 
securing  evidence  against  those  who  are  guilty 
of  outrage.  The  members  of  the  murder-gangs 
are  well  aware  of  this,  and  the  knowledge  is 
causing  a  sharp  cleavage  in  their  ranks.  The 
rank  and  file,  poor  dupes  of  the  designing 
criminals  who  pose  as  their  officers,  know  the  risk 
they  run  by  continuing  their  campaign,  and, 
having  nothing  to  gain  but  false  promises,  are 
disposed  to  remain  peaceful  citizens  rather  than 
incur  the  risk  of  imprisonment.  The  leaders, 
however,  reason  differently.  They  know  that 
their  necks  are  in  nooses  already,  that  only  by  a 
continuance  of  the  campaign  of  murder  and 
intimidation  can  they  escape  for  a  time  the  just 
reward  of  their  crimes.  They  are  desperate  men, 
fighting  like  cornered  rats  against  the  fate  which 
they  may  delay  but  cannot  avert. 

The  natural  result  is  that  minor  outrage,  such 
as  may  be  perpetrated  by  the  rank  and  file, 
continues  to  decrease,  while  desperate  murder, 
the  acts  of  the  principal  assassins,  continues  to 
flame  out  upon  the  least  opportunity.  Towards 
the  end  of  November  two  massacres  occurred, 
which  displayed  the  brutality  of  the  Republican 
assassins  on  a  scale  that  horrified  the  whole 
world. 

The  first  massacre  took  place  about  9  a.m.  on 
Sunday,  21st  November.    A  party  of  murderers 


150    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

arrived  in  Dublin  on  the  Saturday,  taking 
advantage  of  the  influx  of  crovp^ds  to  the  City  to 
attend  a  hurling  match  at  Croke  Park  on  Sunday 
afternoon.  The  headquarters  of  the  Republican 
Army  evidently  required  these  men  for  the 
purpose  of  a  combined  assassination  of  ofiBcers 
whom  they  suspected  of  dealing  with  the  mass  of 
accumulating  evidence  against  members  of  the 
murder-gangs.  Many  of  these  officers  were  living 
unprotected  in  Dublin.  They  were  attacked 
almost  simultaneously  at  9  o'clock  on  Sunday 
morning,  with  the  result  that  fourteen  servants  of 
the  Crown  were  murdered  in  cold  blood.  The 
following  are  the  full  details  of  this  appalling 
outrage,  set  down  in  the  dispassionate  language 
of  the  official  report. 

CASE  A.     28,  Erlsfort  Terrace.      1  Murder. 

"  The  murderers'  leader  rang  the  bell  and 
asked  the  maid  for  '  Colonel  Fitzpatrick.'  She 
disclosed  the  whereabouts  of  the  bedroom  of 
Captain  Fitzgerald.  The  leader  then  called  in 
about  20  men,  placed  them  in  position  in  the  hall 
and  then  entered  Fitzgerald's  room.  The  maid 
heard  his  shouts  and  the  assassin's  voice  say 
*  Come  on.'  Four  shots  were  fired  into  Captain 
Fitzgerald's  body  in  rapid  succession.  The  police 
found  him  in  bed  in  a  pool  of  blood,  his  forehead 
shattered  with  bullets,  another  through  his 
heart,  and  one  through  his  wrist,  which  he  had 
held  up  to  ward  off  the  shot.  All  the  shots  had 
been  fired  point  blank.  Captain  Fitzgerald,  the 
son  of  a  Tipperary  doctor,   had  recently  been 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        151 

employed  as  a  defence  officer  of  police  barracks 
in  County  Clare.  While  thus  engaged  he  was 
kidnapped  by  the  I.R.A.  His  captors  tried  to 
shoot  him  with  his  own  revolver,  which 
miraculously  missed  fire.  They  then  twisted 
his  arm  till  it  was  dislocated,  dragged  him  to  a 
field,  propped  him  against  a  wall  and  fired  at 
him.  He  contrived  to  leap  over  the  wall,  and  so 
escaped.  He  had  come  to  Ehiblin  for  surgical 
treatment  of  his  arm,  and  had  only  been  a  few 
days  out  of  hospital  before  he  was  assassinated." 

CASE  B.         22  Lower  Mount  Street. 

1  murder  in  the  house.     2  further  murders 
resulting  near  by. 

"  The  maid  opened  the  door,  whereupon 
twenty  men  rushed  in  and  demanded  to  be  shown 
the  bedrooms  of  Mr.  Mahon  and  Mr.  Peel.  Mr. 
Mahon's  room  was  pointed  out  to  them,  where- 
upon they  rushed  in  and  fired  five  shots  into  his 
body  at  a  few  inches  range,  killing  him  on  the 
spot.  Meanwhile  some  others  of  the  murderers 
attempted  to  enter  Mr.  Peel's  room,  of  which  the 
door  was  locked.  Seventeen  shots  were  fired 
through  the  panels,  but  Mr.  Peel  escaped 
uninjured.  Another  servant,  hearing  the  shots, 
shouted  from  an  upper  window  to  a  party  of 
cadets  of  the  Auxiliary  Division  who  had  left 
Beggars  Bush  Barracks  to  catch  an  early  train 
southwards  for  duty.  These  cadets  at  once 
attacked  the  house,  after  despatching  two  of 
their  number,  cadets  C.  A.  Morris  and  Frank 
Garniss,  to  their  depot  for  reinforcements.    They 


152    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

chased  the  assassins  through  the  house  and 
captured  one  whom  their  fire  had  wounded  and 
three  others,  all  of  whom  were  armed.  The 
reinforcements  on  their  arrival  were  asked  what 
had  become  of  Morris  and  Garniss.  They  replied 
that  they  had  never  seen  them,  that  they  had 
never  arrived  at  the  depot,  and  that  they  them- 
selves had  only  come  out  on  hearing  the  firing. 
A  search  was  made,  and  the  bodies  of  the  missing 
men  were  found  by  a  Red  Cross  nurse  lying  in  a 
neighbouring  garden.  They  had  apparently  been 
intercepted  by  the  murderers'  pickets,  led  to  the 
back  of  the  house,  placed  against  a  wall,  and 
murdered.  Morris  lived  at  Mitcham,  had  served 
in  France  as  a  Lieutenant  in  the  M.G.C.,*  and 
was  aged  22.  He  had  joined  the  Auxiliary 
Division  on  the  12th  October.  Garniss  had 
joined  the  very  next  day,  after  fifteen  years' 
service  in  the  Army.  He  lived  at  Hull.  These 
were  the  first  Auxiliary  Cadets  to  be  murdered, 
and  the  tragedy  caused  great  resentment  among 
their  comrades.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Mr.  Mahon  had  the  previous  night  told  Mr.  Peel 
to  be  especially  watchful,  as  he  had  an  idea  that 
they  were  being  followed. ' ' 

CASE  C.  *  Briama,'  117  Morehampton  Road. 
Murder  of  one  officer  and  two  civilians. 
**  Just  before  nine  o'clock  a  party  of  between 
ten  and  twenty  armed  men  knocked  at  the  door, 
which  was  opened  by  a  boy  of  ten,  the  son  of  Mr. 
Smith,  the  householder.     They  rushed  into  the 

•  Machine  Gun  Corps. 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.        153 

house,  and  dragged  Mr.  Smith  and  Captain 
McLean,  who  were  in  bed  with  their  wives,  into  a 
front  spare  bedroom.  Mr.  Caldow,  the  brother 
of  Mrs.  McLean,  was  thrust  in  beside  them  and 
all  three  were  shot  in  cold  blood.  Captain 
McLean  and  Mr.  Smith  were  dead  before  an 
ambulance  could  arrive.  Mr.  Caldow  was 
seriously  wounded.  Mr.  Thomas  Henry  Smith, 
who  was  about  45  years  of  age,  left  a 
wife  and  three  children.  Captain  McLean, 
who  had  served  in  the  Rifle  Brigade  during 
the  War,  had  come  with  Mr.  Caldow  to 
Ireland  with  a  view  to  securing  employ- 
ment in  the  police.  Captain  McLean  left 
a  wife  and  child.  Both  Mrs.  Smith  and  Mrs. 
McLean  were  with  their  husbands  when  the 
assassins  entered.  The  latter  dragged  their 
victims  to  an  empty  room  to  murder  them,  as 
Captain  McLean  when  overpowered  implored 
them  not  to  murder  him  under  the  eyes  of  his 
wife.  On  completing  their  dastardly  work  the 
murderers  ran  out  of  the  house  and  disappeared. '  * 

CASE  D.  92,  Lower  Bagot  Street.  1  murder. 
**  A  party  of  murderers  numbering  about  a 
dozen  were  let  in  by  Mrs.  Slack,  the  landlady. 
They  asked  for  Captain  Newbury,  Court 
Martial  Officer,  who  lived  there  with  his  wife. 
Seeing  the  crowd,  the  landlady  rushed  upstairs 
in  terror,  and  saw  nothing  of  the  subsequent 
happenings.  Some  of  the  men  knocked  at 
Captain  Newbury's  door.  Mrs.  Newbury  opened 
it  and  seeing  a  crowd  of  men  with  revolvers, 


154    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

slammed  it  in  their  faces  and  locked  it.  The  men 
burst  the  door  open,  but  Captain  and  Mrs. 
Newbury  escaped  to  an  inner  room  and  tried  to 
hold  the  door  against  them.  They  had  almost 
succeeded  in  shutting  it  when  the  men  lired 
through  the  door,  wounding  Captain  Newbury, 
who  nevertheless  got  to  the  window,  flung  it  open, 
and  was  half  way  out  when  the  murderers  burst 
into  the  room.  Mrs.  Newbury  flung  herself  in  the 
way,  but  they  pushed  her  aside  and  fired  seven 
shots  into  Captain  Newbury's  body.  The  police 
found  the  body  half  in  and  half  out  of  the 
window,  covered  with  a  blanket  which  Mrs. 
Newbury,  although  prostrate,  had  flung  over  it. 
It  is  significant  that  in  this  case,  as  in  many 
others,  the  assassins  had  made  a  diligent  search 
for  papers,  hoping  perhaps  to  find  and  abstract 
documents  or  evidence  upon  which  the  officers  had 
been  working." 

CASE  E.      28,  Upper  Pembroke  Street. 

2  officers  murdered  and  four  wounded. 
"  The  residence  of  Mrs.  Gray  was  raided  at 
nine  o'clock  by  about  twenty  men,  some  of  whom 
came  on  bicycles.  The  house  consisted  of  several 
flats.  The  raiders,  who  were  armed  and  undis- 
guised, held  up  Mrs.  Gray  and  her  maid  on  the 
stairs.  The  house  appeared  to  be  familiar  to  them 
as  they  broke  up  into  parties,  each  of  which  went 
straight  to  its  objective.  Ten  to  twelve  shots 
were  heard,  and  following  these  the  assassins 
decamped.  Mrs.  Gray  and  her  maid  visited  the 
rooms    immediately    and    found    that    Major 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF   1920.         155 

Dowling  of  the  Grenadier  Guards  had  been  shot 
dead  at  his  bedroom  door.  Captain  Price  of  the 
Royal  Engineers  w^  found  dead  in  the  room  next 
door.  Captain  Keenlyside  of  the  Lancashire 
Fusiliers,  whose  wife  most  gallantly  struggled 
with  the  murderers  and  thereby  frustrated  their 
purpose,  was  wounded  in  the  arm.  Colonel 
Woodcock  was  fired  at  as  he  came  down  stairs. 
He  appears  to  have  taken  the  raiders  who  were 
in  the  hall  by  surprise.  He  called  out  to  Colonel 
Montgomery  who,  on  coming  out  of  his  room  was 
wounded  in  the  body,  from  which  woimd  he  died 
some  days  later.  While  running  towards  his 
room  to  secure  a  weapon  Colonel  Woodcock  was 
also  wounded.  A  sixth  officer,  Mr.  Murray,  of 
the  Royal  Scots,  was  also  wounded  as  he  came 
down  the  stairs.  A  lady  resident  in  the  house 
went  from  room  to  room  seeking  help,  and  in 
every  room  found  only  dead,  dying,  or  wounded 
men." 

CASE  F.  38,  Upper  Mount  Street.  2  murders. 
"  This  house  was  entered  at  9.10  a.m.  by 
twenty  armed,  unmasked  men,  who  were  let  in  by 
a  servant.  She  unwillingly  pointed  out  the  rooms 
occupied  by  Lieutenant  Aimes  of  the  Grenadier 
Guards  and  Lieutenant  Bennett  of  the  Motor 
Transport.  The  maid  rushed  upstairs  and  told 
an  officer  sleeping  on  an  upper  floor  and  another 
male  lodger  that  murder  was  being  done  down 
stairs.  A  fusilade  of  shots  was  heard  by  these 
three,  and  when  they  came  downstairs  they 
found  two  bodies  in  a  pool  of  blood  in  Mr.  Aimes' 


156    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

bedroom.  Mr.  Bennett  had  evidently  been 
dragged  from  his  room  in  his  bedclothes  into  his 
brother  officer's  room  where  both  were  shot 
together,    their    bodies    lying    side    by    side." 

CASE  G.    Gresham  Hotel,  Sackville  Street. 
2  murders. 

* '  A  party  of  fifteen  to  twenty  men  entered  the 
open  door  of  the  hotel,  held  up  the  Boots  and  head 
porter,  at  the  point  of  their  revolvers,  and  forced 
the  latter  to  lead  them  to  the  rooms  occupied  by 
Captain  McCormack,  of  the  Army  Veterinary 
Corps,  and  Lieutenant  Wilde.  The  party,  one 
of  whom  carried  a  huge  hammer,  knocked  first  at 
the  door  of  room  14,  occupied  by  Mr.  Wilde.  He 
opened  it  and  asked  them  what  they  wanted. 
Eor  answer  three  shots  were  fired  into  his  chest 
simultaneously.  The  party  then  moved  to  room 
24,  occupied  by  Captain  McCormack,  who  was 
sitting  up  in  bed  reading  his  paper.  Without  a 
word  five  shots  were  fired  into  his  body  and  head 
as  he  sat  there.  The  bed  was  saturated  with 
blood,  and  the  body,  and  especially  the  head, 
was  horribly  disfigured.  Possibly  the  assassins 
had  used  the  hammer  as  well  as  their  revolvers  to 
finish  off  their  victim . " 

CASE  H.  119,  Lower  Bagot  Street.  1  murder. 
*'  This  raid  was  presumably  similar  to  the 
others.  Captain  Baggally,  Court  Martial  Officer, 
was  shot  dead.  When  the  police  arrived  every 
occupant  of  the  house  had  left  and  no  witness  was 
available  to  describe  the  circumstances.    Captain 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  1920.         157 

Baggally  had  lost  a  leg  in  the  war  and  was  a 
barrister  by  profession.  He  had  been  employed 
as  a  prosecutor  under  the  Restoration  of  Order  in 
Ireland  Regulations. ' ' 

Immediate  steps  were  taken  by  the  authorities 
to  discover  the  assassins.  In  view  of  the  fact  that 
it  was  known  that  many  persons  had  come  to 
Dublin  from  Tipperary,  a  notorious  centre  of  the 
murder-gangs,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  search 
the  crowds  assembled  at  Croke  Park  for  the 
hurling  match.  It  had  been  arranged  that  a 
cordon  was  to  be  drawn  round  the  ground,  and 
that  an.  oflBcer  with  a  megaphone  should  announce 
to  the  crowd  the  object  of  the  cordon  and  of  the 
search,  in  order  to  avoid  a  stampede.  But  a 
stampede  was  exactly  what  the  murderers  among 
the  crowd  desired,  in  order  that  they  might  slip 
away  in  the  ensuing  confusion.  Accordingly,  as 
soon  as  the  forces  of  the  Crown  appeared, 
picquets  posted  by  the  murderers  fired  upon  them, 
and  at  the  same  time  men  in  the  crowd  itself 
discharged  their  revolvers,  with  a  view  to 
creating  a  panic. 

The  police  were  compelled  to  return  the  fire, 
with  the  result  that  ten  persons  were  killed  and 
eleven  wounded.  Two  others  were  killed  and 
several  others  injured  in  the  stampede.  It  was 
found  impossible  to  search  those  escaping  from 
the  ground,  but  over  thirty  revolvers  were 
subsequently  found  in  the  field,  having  been 
thrown  away  by  their  owners. 

The  second  massacre  took  place  on  the  follow- 


158    ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 

ing  Sunday,  28th  November,  at  Kilmichael, 
between  Macroom  and  Dunmanway,  in  County 
Cork.  The  full  and  exact  details  of  this  tragedy 
will  probably  never  be  accurately  known,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  only  one  of  the  party  attacked 
escaped,  and  he  was  very  severely  wounded. 

It  appears,  however,  that  during  the  afternoon 
of  the  28th,  the  District  Inspector  at  Macroom 
took  out,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  duty,  a  patrol 
of  seventeen  members  of  the  Auxiliary  Division 
of  the  R.I.C.,  accompanied  by  a  temporary 
constable.  The  patrol,  which  travelled  in  two 
Crossley  tenders,  was  going  in  search  of  a 
wanted  man,  and  had  been  operating  with 
a  detachment  of  the  Essex  Regiment  from 
Dunmanway.  Shortly  after  dusk,  about  5  p.m., 
the  patrol  was  proceeding  along  the  Macroom- 
Dunmanway  Road,  and  had  reached  a  point 
where  the  road  takes  a  slight  curve.  At  this 
point  the  road  is  flanked  by  low  stone  walls, 
beyond  which  are  narrow  strips  of  bogland, 
sloping  up  to  boulder-strewn  hills  on  either  side. 

Here  an  ambush  had  been  prepared  by  members 
of  the  murder-gangs  who  were  '  on  the  run  '  in 
this  wild  country.  The  assassins,  who  wore 
khaki  trench-coats  and  steel  helmets,  had  drawn 
a  motor-lorry  across  the  road,  and  were  thus 
mistaken  by  the  patrol  in  the  dark  for  a  military 
escort.  The  first  car  halted,  and  its  occupants 
dismounted  to  get  in  touch  with  the  supposed 
troops.  A  fierce  fire  was  at  once  opened  upon 
them.  Three  cadets  were  killed  outright,  and 
the  survivors,  seeing  their  mistake,  began  to  run 


THE   LATTER   HALF   OF   1920.        159 

back  to  their  cars  for  cover.  The  second  car, 
which  had  been  following  some  hundred  yards 
behind  the  first,  now  came  up,  and  its  occupants 
dismounted  to  assist  their  comrades.  As  they 
did  so,  from  a  depression  in  the  adjoining  hill- 
side came  a  close-range,  devastating  fire.  The 
patrol  was  caught  between  three  fires,  from  the 
lorry  and  from  the  walls  on  either  side  of  the 
road.  After  many  of  the  patrol  had  been 
disabled,  overwhelming  forces  of  the  assassins 
came  out  of  hiding  and  disarmed  the  survivors. 
A  brutal  massacre  followed,  it  being  the  policy 
of  the  murder-gangs  to  allow  no  survivor  to 
escape  and  reveal  their  identity.  The  dead  and 
wounded  were  indiscriminately  hacked  with 
axes  and  bayoneted,  shot  guns  were  fired  into 
their  bodies,  and  many  were  savagely  mutilated 
after  death.  Of  the  whole  patrol  of  eighteen, 
sixteen  were  found  lying  dead  on  the  spot,  one 
had  disappeared,  and  one  was  foimd  terribly 
wounded  and  taken  to  Cork  Military  Hospital. 
He  had  two  bullet  wounds  in  his  body,  and  had 
been  struck  on  the  head  with  an  axe  and  left  for 
dead.  The  bodies  of  all  had  been  rifled,  even 
their  clothes  being  taken. 

The  intimidation  of  the  local  inhabitants  is 
shovm  by  the  fact  that  many  people  going  to  Mass 
in  the  morning  had  been  diverted  from  the 
locality  of  the  ambush,  yet  no  one  of  them  had 
informed  the  police.  No  news  reached  Macroom 
until  9-30  the  following  morning,  when  a  party 
went  out  and  found  the  site  of  the  massacre.  An 
examination  showed  that  the  stone  walls  border- 


160    ADMINISTRATION  OF  IRELAND. 

ing  the  road  had  been  heightened  and  loop- 
holed,  and  that  the  depression  in  the  hillside, 
from  which  the  flanking  fire  had  been  opened, 
had  been  shielded  by  camouflage  representing 
rocks  and  boulders. 

This  was  the  last  sensational  outrage  of  the 
year,  if  we  except  the  bombing  of  a  party  of 
Auxiliary  Cadets  at  Dillon's  Cross  on  the  11th 
December,  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  one  of 
the  party  and  the  wounding  of  several  others, 
and  was  one  of  the  contributory  causes  of  the 
burnings  in  Cork  on  that  night. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  at  the  close  of  the 
year  the  outlook  in  Ireland  was  considerably 
brighter  than  could  have  been  anticipated  some 
months  earlier.  The  Government  of  Ireland  Act 
was  on  the  Statute  Book,  the  Irish  had  obtained 
a  far  more  generous  measure  of  Home  Rule  than 
they  had  any  right  to  expect.  The  future  of  the 
country  lay  in  the  hands  of  its  own  inhabitants, 
they  had  but  to  prove  their  capacity  for  govern- 
ment to  secure  such  political  liberty  as  their 
fathers  had  never  contemplated.  The  power  of 
the  assassins  was  broken;  although  they  might 
achieve  further  sporadic  outrages,  the  forces  of 
law  and  order  were  steadily  hemming  them  in. 
And,  finally,  and  most  hopeful  of  all,  was  the 
rapidly  accumulating  weight  of  evidence  that  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  had  recognised  the  folly 
of  a  policy  of  lawlessness,  and  were  increasingly 
anxious  for  peace  which  should  bring  in  its  train 
a   new   era   of   prosperity   to    their    distracted 


THE  LATTER  HALF  OF   1920.       161 

country.  And  indeed  what  further  need  was 
there  of  fighting  ?  The  granting  of  Home  Rule 
had  swept  the  nightmare  of  Republic  out  of  the 
brains  of  all  sane  men,  leaving  in  its  stead  the 
vision  of  an  Ireland  remaining  an  integral  part 
of  the  Empire,  yet  waiting  to  be  governed  by 
those  of  her  sons  who  should  prove  capable  of 
holding  the  reins. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  FORCES  OF  THE  "  REPUBLIC." 

Throughout  the  preceding  chapters  reference 
has  frequently  been  made  to  the  various 
organizations  responsible  for  the  disturbances  in 
Ireland.  In  the  present  chapter  some  attempt 
will  be  made  to  give  an  account  of  these 
organizations,  of  their  constitution  and  aims, 
and  of  their  methods  of  operation. 

•It  may  be  stated  in  general  terms  that  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  is  the  nucleus 
round  which  are  grouped  the  various  military 
organizations.  The  principal  of  these  is  the 
Irish  Volunteers,  or  (as  they  have  now  become) 
the  Irish  Republican  Army.  It  is  alleged  that 
The  Brotherhood  is  responsible  for  the  direction 
of  what  may  be  termed  "  major  outrage,"  such 
as  the  murder  of  individuals  who  have  rendered 
themselves  obnoxious  to  it,  whilst  the  Volunteers 
are  employed  upon  more  strictly  military 
operations,  such  as  raids  for  arms  and  attacks 
upon  barracks.  It  must  be  realized  from  the 
outset  that  during  the  period  dealt  with  in  this 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     163 

book  the  various  republican  organizations  con- 
sidered themselves  as  the  directing  force  of  a 
de  facto  Irish  Republic,  of  which  the  Government 
was  Dail  Eireann,  and  the  policy  the  conduct  of 
war  upon  the  British  Empire  in  general  and  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  in  particular. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  is  a  lengthy  document*,  and  space 
does  not  permit  of  its  quotation  in  full.  But  it 
is  of  such  great  importance  in  enabling  the 
general  reader  to  grasp  the  problem  underlying 
the  solution  of  the  Irish  Question,  that  fairly 
extensive  extracts  from  it  must  be  given. 

"  The  object  of  the  Irish  Republican  Brother- 
hood (hereinafter  sometimes  called  the  "  Organi- 
zation ")  is  to  est^iblish  and  maintain  a  free  and 
independent  Republican  Government  in  Ireland. 

"  The  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  shall 
do  its  utmost  to  train  and  equip  its 
members  as  a  military  body  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  independence  of  Ireland  by  force  of 
arms  f  it  shall  secure  the  co-operation  of  all  Irish 
military  bodies  in  the  accomplishment  of  its 
object,  and  shall  support  every  movement 
calculated  to  advance  the  cause  of  Irish  National 
Independence — consistent  with  the  preservation 
of  its  own  integrity. 

'*  Every  Irishman,  irrespective  of  class  or 
creed,    whose   character   for   patriotism,    truth, 

*It  is  in  the  form  of  a  printed  octavo  pamphlet,  and  bears 
no  indication  of  the  printer's  name  or  place  of  printing. 


164      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

valour,  sobriety  and  obedience  to  superior  officers 
can  bear  scrutiny,  and  who  accepts  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  is 
eligible  for  membership  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood. 

"  Names  of  prospective  candidates  for  mem- 
bership shall  be  proposed  and  seconded  at  a 
Circle  meeting.  If  accepted  by  a  Circle,  the 
Centre  shall  direct  a  member  to  ascertain  in  an 
approved  manner  whether  said  prospect  is 
willing  to  join  the  organization.  When  a 
prospect  is  approached  for  this  purpose,  only  the 
investigator  shall  be  present  with  him. 

"  Each  candidate  who  qualifies  for  admission 
into  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  shall 
affirm  on  oath  that  he  does  not  belong  to  any  other 
oath-bound  society,  and  shall,  as  a  requisite  for 
acceptance,  take  the  following  oath  : — 

"  In  the  presence  of  God  I 

DO  SOLEMNLY  SWEAR  THAT  I  WILL  DO  MY  UTMOST 
TO    ESTABLISH    THE    NATIONAL    INDEPENDENCE    OF 

Ireland,  that  I  will  bear  true  allegiance  to 

THE  SUPREME  COUNCIL  OF  THE  IrISH  REPUBLICAN 

Brotherhood  and  Government  of  the  Irish 
Republic  :  that  I  will  implicitly  obey  the 
constitution  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  and  all  my  superior  officers, 
and  preserve  inviolate  the  secrets  of  the 
organization.     So  help  me  God." 

"  Should  any  man,  while  a  member  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  be  asked  to 
join  any  other  oath-bound  society,  he  shall 
immediately  inform  his  Superior  Officer  in  the 


THE  FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     165 

Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  who  shall  at  once 
transmit  the  information  to  the  Supreme  Council 
in  the  appointed  manner.  Each  Ofi&cer  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  shall  be  em- 
powered to  at  any  time  demand  that  any  member 
under  his  jurisdiction  shall  on  oath  affirm  that 
he  does  not  belong  to  any  other  oath-bound 
society. 

"  No  man  who  is  a  member  of  any  other  such 
Society  shall  be  admitted  to,  or  allowed  to  retain 
membership  of,  the  Irish  Republican  Brother- 
hood without  the  express  permission  of  the 
Supreme  Council. 

"  The  unit  of  organization  shall  be  known  as 
a  *  Circle  ' ;  the  members  of  which  shall  elect  an 
officer,  entitled  a  '  Centre,'  to  direct  and  govern 
same.  Each  Circle  shall  also  elect  a  '  Sub- 
Centre,'  a  Secretary  and  a  Treasurer. 

"  Each  Circle  shall  meet  at  least  monthly. 

"  (a)  The  Governing  Body  of  the  Organiza- 
tion shall  be  entitled  '  The  Supreme  Council.' 
It  shall  consist  of  one  member  for  each  of  the 
eleven  divisions  enumerated  in  this  clause.  The 
eleven  members  so  elected  shall  co-opt  four 
additional  members,  whose  names  are  to  be  known 
only  to  the  members  of  the  Supreme  Council. 
The  total  membership  of  the  Council  shall  thus 
be  fifteen. 

"  (b)  The  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  shall 
be  divided  into  eleven  Electoral   '  Divisions.' 

"  The  District  Centres  and  County  Centre  in 
each  Division  shall,  in  Convention  assembled, 
elect  by  ballot   a  committee   of   five   of   their 


166      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

number,  who  shall,  under  oath  of  secrecy,  elect 
by  ballot  a  member  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  as  '  Divisional  Centre,'  who  shall 
represent  the  Division  on  the  Supreme  Council  of 
the  Organization. 

"  Each  member  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  shall  pay  a  monthly  fee  of  sixpence, 
one-third  of  which  will  be  retained  by  the  Circle, 
one-third  by  the  County  Treasurer,  and  one-third 
remitted  to  the  Supreme  Council  through  the 
Divisional  Centre.  Each  member  shall  also 
contribute  according  to  his  means  for  the 
purchase  of  war  materials,  and  shall  pay  any 
special  levies  which  the  Supreme  Council  may 
impose  as  the  necessity  arises. 

"  Any  member  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  may  be  suspended  by  his  Centre,  or 
by  a  majority  vote  of  the  '  Circle, '  on  any  of  the 
following  grounds  : — (a)  abstention  from  Circle 
meetings  without  valid  excuse,  (b)  failure  to  pay 
membership  fees;  (c)  failure  to  pay  levies 
for  purchase  of  arms;  (d)  loss  of  arms  entrusted 
to  his  care;  {e)  speaking  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  (I.R.B.)  on  any  occasion  other  than 
at  Circle  meetings,  unless  with  the  express 
permission  of  his  Centre  or  Circle ;  (/)  intemper- 
ance ;  (g)  being  guilty  of  any  act  derogatory  to  the 
interests  of  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood. 

"  Should  any  grave  misdemeanour  or  serious 
breach  of  discipline  warrant  it,  Trial  by  Court 
Martial  may  be  ordered  by  a  majority  vote  of  the 
Circle,  by  the  Centre  or  any  other  Supreme 
Authority.     If  found  guilty  said  member  shall 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE  REPUBLIC.     167 

be  expelled  from  the  Organization  and  the 
expulsion  reported  to  the  Supreme  Council 
through  the  proper  channels.  All  charges 
against  members  shall  be  made  in  writing. 

' '  No  member  of  the  Irish  Republican  Brother- 
hood shall  receive  any  information  respecting  the 
work  of  the  Organization  except  what  is 
necessary  for  the  performance  of  his  duty. 
Should  any  member  inadvertently  acquire  such 
information  he  shall  not  be  at  liberty  to  divulge 
or  make  use  of  same,  but  shall  report  to  his 
superior  officer. 

"  At  all  meetings  of  the  Organization  where 
any  officer  is  elected  the  following  oath  shall  be 
taken  : — 

"  In  the  presence  of  God,  I , 

DO  SOLEMNLY  SWEAR  THAT  I  SHALL  NOT  DISCLOSE 
TO  ANY  PERSON  THE  BUSINESS  OF  THIS  MEETING  OR 
THE  NAMES  OF  THOSE  PRESENT  THEREAT. 

"  There  shall  be  no  State  religion  in  the  Irish 
Republic.  Each  citizen  shall  be  free  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience. 

"  There  shall  be  no  privileged  persons,  or 
classes,  in  the  Irish  Republic.  All  citizens 
shall  enjoy  equal  rights  therein. 

"  The  SUPREME  council  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Brotherhood  is  hereby  declared 
in  fact  as  well  as  by  right,  the  sole -govern- 
MENT OF  THE  Irish  Republic.  Its  enactments 
shall  be  the  laws  of  the  Irish  Republic  until 
Ireland  secures  absolute  National  Independence, 
and  a  permanent  Republican  Government  be 
established. 


168      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

**  The  authority  of  the  Supreme  Council  shall 
be  unquestioned  by  any  member  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Brotherhood. 

"  The  Supreme  Council  of  the  Irish  Re- 
publican Brotherhood  shall  have  power  to  levy 
taxes,  raise  loans,  make  war  and  peace,  negotiate 
and  ratify  treaties  with  Foreign  Powers,  and  do 
all  other  acts  necessary  for  the  protection  and 
government  of  the  Irish  Republic. 

* '  A  Declaration  of  War  shall  be  supported  by 
at  least  ten  members  of  the  Supreme  Council, 
and  a  decision  so  arrived  at  shall  be  binding  on 
all  Members  of  the  Council. 

"  There  shall  be  an  '  Executive  '  of  the 
Supreme  Council,  composed  of  the  President, 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  that  Body,  whose 
election  shall,  if  possible,  take  place  at  the  first 
meeting  of  a  new  Supreme  Council  to  which  all 
members  shall  have  been  summoned. 

"  This  Executive  shall  be  vested  with  all 
powers  and  prerogatives  of  the  Supreme  Council 
when  the  Supreme  Council  is  not  in  Session; 
except  those  of  declaring  War,  and  altering  the 
Constitution. 

"  A  majority  vote  of  the  Executive  shall  be 
binding  on  all  three  of  its  members. 

"  The  President  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  is  in  fact  as  well  as  by  right. 
President  of  the  Irish  Republic.  He  shall 
direct  the  working  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Supreme 
Council  or  the  Executive  thereof. 

"The  Supreme  Council  shall  have  power  to 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     169 

appoint  a  Secret  Court  for  the  trial  of  any 
member  or  members  charged  with  the  commission 
of  treason  or  grave  misdemeanours. 

"Any  member  of  the  Irish  Republican  Brother- 
hood who  unlawfully  appropriates  money 
entrusted  to  him  for  National  purposes  shall  be 
expelled  from  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood. 
The  Supreme  Council  shall  circulate  the  name 
or  names  of  such  offenders  throughout  the 
Organization,  and  to  representative  Irishmen 
living  in  foreign  countries  as  may  be  deemed 
advisable. 

' '  The  Supreme  Council  alone  shall  have  power 
to  inflict  a  sentence  of  Capital  Punishment  and 
to  give  it  effect;  and  this  only  in  cases  of  treason. 
The  crime  of  treason  is  hereby  defined  as  any 
wilful  act  or  word  on  the  part  of  any  member  of 
the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  calculated  to 
betray  the  cause  of -Irish  Independence,  or  sub- 
serve the  interests  of  the  British  or  any  other 
foreign  government  to  the  detriment  of  Irish 
Independence. 

"  There  shall  be  a  *  Military  Council  '  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  which  shall  be 
attached  to,  and  at  all  times  be  subject  to,  the 
Supreme  Coimcil,  and  shall  have  no  power  to 
direct,  or  interfere  with,  the  policy  of  the 
Government  of  the  Irish  Republic  nor  in  any  way 
to  alter  the  Constitution  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood. 

GENERAL  ORDER  OF  BUSINESS  AT  CIRCLE  MEETINGS. 

1.  Post  Guard  at  door. 

2.  Centre  opens  meeting  in  the  name  of  the 


170      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

IRISH  REPUBLIC,  members  standing  to  atten- 
tion. 

3.  Roll    call    by    Secretary,    and    reports    on 
absentees. 

4.  Introduction  of  new  members. 

5.  Reports    on     candidates     for     membership 
proposed  at  previous  meeting  of  Circle. 

6.  Nominations  of  prospective  candidates. 

7.  Orders  from  District  Board. 

8.  Collection  of  subscriptions. 

9.  Announcement  of  next  meeting  date. 

10.  Other  business. 

11.  Military  training  through  lectures,   discus- 
sions, etc.,  as  arranged  by  District  Board. 

12.  Centre    declares    meeting    closed — members 
standing  to  attention." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  extracts  of  the 
"  Constitution  "  that  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  is  a  secret  society,  whose  members 
are  bound  by  oath,  penalty,  and  threat  to  carry 
out  its  orders,  whatever  they  may  be.  There  is 
no  attempt  at  limiting  the  scope  of  these  orders ; 
the  expression  "  by  force  of  arms  "  is  sufficient 
in  itself  to  include  any  act  of  violence  which 
might  be  considered  expedient.  Murder  could 
but  be  regarded  as  an  incident  to  such  an 
organization,  as  a  judicial  execution  of  an  enemy 
to  its  avowed  aspiration — the  establishment  of  an 
independent  Irish  Republic.  Regarded  in  the 
light  of  this  policy,  the  motives  underlying  even 
such  cold-blooded  outrages  as  the  murders  of 
Captain  Lendrum  and  Mr.   Alan  Bell  become 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     171 

clear.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  not  one  of  ^e 
publications  issued  by  the  Republican  organiza- 
tions bears  any  indication  of  place  of  origin. 
Even  the  printer's  name  is  withheld. 

Of  the  purely  military  organizations,  the  Irish 
Republican  Army  is  the  most  important,  indeed 
it  may  be  said  to  have  absorbed  all  the  lesser 
bodies  that  have  existed  from  time  to  time.  It 
is  the  offspring  of  the  Irish  Volunteers,  a  force 
which  was  originally  formed  as  a  counterblast  to 
the  Ulster  Volunteers.  A  large  proportion  of 
the  Irish  Volunteers  displayed  their  loyalty  to 
the  Crown  in  1914,  but  the  residue  to9k  up  a 
definitely  Republican  standpoint,  and  from  this 
residue  developed  the  Irish  Republican  Army. 

The  general  scheme  of  organization  of  the 
Irish  Volunteers  shows  them  to  be  a  purely 
military  force,  modelled  upon  accepted  military 
lines. 

"  All  Irishmen  who  subscribe  to  the  following 
objects  : 

1.  To  secure  and  maintain  the  rights  and 
liberties  common  to  all  the  people  of  Ireland. 

2.  To  train,  discipline,  and  equip  for  this 
purpose  an  Irish  Volunteer  Force. 

3.  To  unite,  in  the  service  of  Ireland, 
Irishmen  of  every  creed  and  of  every  party 
and  class, 

are  eligible  for  membership  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  and  all  Irishmen  having  signed  this 
declaration  : — 

'  I,  the  undersigned,  desire  to  be  enrolled 
for  service  in  Ireland  as  a  member  of  the 


172      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Irish  Volunteer  Force.      I  subscribe  to  the 

Constitution  of  the  Irish  Volunteers,   and 

pledge  my  willing  obedience  to  my  superior 

officers.     I  declare  that  in  joining  the  Irish 

Volunteer   Force   I   set   before   myself   the 

stated  objects  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  and  no 

others  ' 

shall  be  members  of  the  Irish  Volunteer  Force." 

Another  document*  lays  down  that  the  tactical 

unit  of  the  force  shall  be  the  Company,  consisting 

of  not  less  than  76  and  not  more  than  100  men 

including  eight  Squad  Leaders  and  four  Section 

Commanders.     Each  Company  is  to  have  three 

officers,  the  Captain,  the  Right  Half  Company 

Commander,  who  ranks  as  a  First  Lieutenant, 

and  the  Left  Half  Company  Commander,  who 

ranks  as  a  Second  Lieutenant.     In  addition  to 

these,  two  additional  Non-Commissioned  Officers, 

ranking  as  Section  Commanders,   are  provided 

for,  whose  duties  are  to  be  those  of  Adjutant  and 

Quartermaster  respectively.     In  each  Company 

twelve    men    are    to    be    specially    trained    in 

signalling,  eight  in  each  of  the  special  services 

of   engineering,    scouting  and   despatch-riding, 

transport  and  supply,  and  first  aid,  and  four  in 

musketry.    It  is,  however,  suggested  that  all  the 

men  in  the  Company  should  receive  at  all  events 

elementary  training  in  these  subjects. 

"  The  Company  and  Half -Company  Com- 
manders shall  be  elected  by  the  Company  at  a 
general  meeting  summoned  for  that  purpose. 
The  election  must  be  by  ballot  and  shall  not  take 

*  "  Constitution  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  "  (a  small  pamphlet 
without  any  indication  of  place  of  origin). 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     173 

effect  unless  and  until  ratified  by  Headquarters. 
Every  Company  Officer,  upon  ratification  of  his 
election,  shall  be  given  a  Commission  by  Head- 
quarters, such  a  Commission  to  be  his  authority 
to  act  a§  a  Company  Officer  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers." 

A  rather  curious  feature  of  the  Force  is  the 
express  provision  which  is  made  for  the 
discussion  of  matters  submitted  to  any  unit  ' '  for 
its  recommendation  "  by  that  unit's  Commander 
or  by  higher  authority.  It  is  expressly  laid  down 
that  officers  of  the  unit  shall  form  an  Advisory 
Council,  presided  over  by  the  unit  Commander, 
which  council,  however,  shall  have  no  authority 
over  matters  of  discipline,  command,  or  efficiency, 
for  which  the  Commander  is  wholly  responsible. 
This  institution  of  Councils  commences  with  the 
Company,  whose  Council  is  to  consist  of  the 
Captain,  First  and  Second  Lieutenants, 
Adjutant,  and  Quartermaster,  and  extends  to 
the  Battalion  and  the  Brigade. 

The  Battalion  is  to  consist  of  not  less  than 
four  or  more  than  seven  Companies,  and  its 
officers  are  to  be  as  follows :  Commandant, 
Vice-Commandant,  Adjutant,  Quartermaster, 
Lieutenant  of  Engineers,  and  Chiefs  of 
Signallers,  Medical  Services,  and  Scouting  and 
Cycling,  the  last  three  ranking  as  Lieutenants. 
The  Commandant,  Vice-Commandant,  Adjutant, 
and  Quartermaster  are  to  be  elected  by  ballot  at 
a  meeting  of  all  the  officers  of  the  Companies 
comprising  the  Battalion.  The  election  of  the 
remainder  is  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Battalion 


174      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Council.  The  Brigade  is  to  consist  normally  of 
from  three  to  six  Battalions.  Its  officers  are  to 
be  a  Commandant,  Vice-Commandant,  Adjutant, 
Quartermaster,  and  Captains  of  Engineers, 
Signallers,  Medical  Services,  and  Scooting  and 
Cycling.  The  Battalion  Commandants,  Vice- 
Commandants,  Adjutants,  and  Quartermasters 
of  each  Battalion  comprising  the  Brigade  shall 
elect  the  Brigade  officers. 

The  supreme  authority  is  to  be  Headquarters, 
a  directing  body  operating  from  Dublin,  to 
which  only  indirect  reference  is  made  in  the 
"  Constitution." 

The  Irish  Volunteers  publish  an  official  organ 
under  the  title  An  T'Oglac,  from  which  may  be 
gleaned  many  interesting  facts  bearing  upon  the 
outlook  of  the  force  and  the  methods  adopted  by 
it  in  the  course  of  its  campaign  of  outrage.  An 
extract  from  the  number  dated  April  1st,  1920, 
throws  an  interesting  light  upon  the  Republican 
attitude  towards  British  aims  in  the  late  War. 
It  has  been  the  cry  of  these  very  sections  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  that  since  the  war  was  fought 
for  the  rights  of  small  nations,  they  were  entitled 
to  benefit  from  the  results  of  the  British  victory 
in  that  war.  How  far  the  Irish  Volunteers  were 
prepared  to  lift  a  finger  in  the  defence  of  a 
certain  "  small  nation,"  Catholic  in  faith  as  is 
Ireland,  is  shown  by  the  following  : — 

"  The  duty  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Irish 
Army  at  the  present  juncture  is  to  keep  as 
calmly  efficient,  as  '  ready  and  steady,'  as 
they    were    before    that    other    murderous 


THE  FOBCES   OF  THE   REPUBLIC.     175 

menace    of    the    enemy    in     1918    called 
'  Conscription.' 

"  Then,  as  now,  the  people  of  Ireland 
were  threatened  with  slaughter  {sic),  and 
then  as  now  the  Irish  Volunteers  stood  pre- 
pared to  risk  their  lives  to  defend  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  citizens  of  the  Irish 
Republic.  Our  organisation  was  improved, 
arming  and  equipping  were  carried  on 
vigorously,  with  the  result  that  the  close  of 
the  war  in  France  found  our  Republican 
Army  able  to  carry  on  a  vigorous  campaign 
of  guerilla  warfare  in  this  country 
against  the  foreign  Army  of  Occupation, 
and  particularly  that  most  essential  and 
dangerous  part  of  it,  those  traitorous  Irish- 
men who  in  the  garb  of  '  policemen  '  act  as 
spies  for  the  enemy  and  use  their  local 
knowledge  for  his  advantage." 
Another  sentence  from  the  same  article  reads 
as  follows  : — 

* '  Meanwhile  our  guerilla  warfare  against 
the  enemy  forces  must  be  pushed  on  even 
more  vigorously  than  ever.     The  situation 
must  be  made  more  impossible  for  the  enemy 
daily.     .      .      .If  our  organisation  and 
discipline  are  good  we  shall  strike  blows  thai 
will  make  the  enemy  tremble." 
It  must  be  observed  that  in  every  publication 
issued  by  the  Volunteers  there  is  insistence  upon 
the  hypothesis  that  the  Irish  Republican  Army 
is  actually  at  war  with  the  British  Government, 
which  is  repeatedly  described  as  '  the  enemy.' 


176      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

This  is  a  matter  of  great  importance,  for  it  has  a 
direct  bearing  upon  the  whole  question  of 
outrage.  The  point  is  again  emphasised  in 
another  passage  in  the  number  oi  An  T'Oglac 
from  which  quotation  has  already  been  made. 

"  Reports  show  that  the  state  of  organisation 
in  some  of  the  Brigade  areas  is  far  from 
satisfactory.  In  cases  where  a  loose  and 
imperfect  state  of  organisation  exists  the  Brigade 
staff  are  generally  to  blame.  Brigade  officers 
who  have  been  negligent  in  their  duties  are 
warned  to  '  get  a  hustle  on  '  in  regard  to  Brigade 
organisation  if  they  wish  to  retain  their 
positions.  Headquarters  cannot  tolerate  any 
slackness  at  the  present  time.  There  is  a  war  on* 
and  those  officers  who  are  unable  or  unprepared 
to  work  hard  and  efficiently  must  make  way  for 
those  who  can  and  will." 

The  same  article  goes  on  to  discuss  a  subject 
of  considerable  interest,  namely,  the  question  of 
emigration.  The  attitude  of  the  Republican 
Army  is  very  frankly  expressed  : — 

'  'A  certain  number  of  cases  have  occurred  from 
time  to  time  where  Volunteers  whose  freedom  of 
movement  and  means  of  earning  a  livelihood  have 
been  interfered  with  as  the  result  of  enemy 
activity  have  sought  the  assistance  of  Head- 
quarters in  being  sent  out  of  the  country  to 
America  or  elsewhere.  It  is  necessary  to  make 
clear  the  position  of  the  responsible  authorities 
of   the   Irish   Volunteers   with   regard   to   this 

*  The  italics  are  mine. 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     177 

important  subject  of  emigration  from  Ireland. 
In  common  with  all  bodies  who  have  the  national 
welfare  at  heart,  the  Executive  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers  is  strongly  opposed  to  the  departure 
from  Ireland  of  a  single  citizen  of  the  Irish 
Republic.  The  emigration  of  any  able-bodied  man 
or  woman  under  the  circumstances  is  a  national 
loss,  an  addition  to  the  depopulation  from  which 
our  country  suffers  as  the  result  of  the  enemy's 
policy ;  but  the  departure  of  any  Irish  Volunteer 
during  the  most  critical  time  of  the  War  of 
Independence  can  only  be  regarded  as  cowardly 
desertion.  Only  those  men  who  are  sent  abroad  to 
do  special  work  or  for  very  exceptional  reasons 
will  be  facilitated  in  any  way  by  Headquarters  in 
leaving  this  country. ' ' 

That  this  question  was  regarded  very  seriously 
by  the  Administration  of  the  Republic  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  the  Minister  of  Defence  of  Dail 
Eireann  issued  a  manifesto  in  the  form  of  a  hand- 
bill, dated  June  5th,  1920.  This  document  reads 
as  follows  : — 

"  The  enemy  has  declared  that  there  are  too 
many  young  men  in  Ireland,  and  he  is  anxious 
to  clear  them  out.  It  suited  his  purpose  to 
refuse  them  passports  during  the  war,  but  he 
will  now  give  them  every  facility  to  emigrate. 
These  facilities  must  not  be  availed  of.  Ireland 
wants  all  her  young  men.  Their  presence  in  the 
coimtry  is  more  necessary  now  than  ever.  It  is 
because  of  their  growing  numbers  and  their 
efiBcient  military  organisation  that  the  British 
Army  of  Occupation  is  in  its  present  state  of 

M 


178      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

disorganisation.  The  long-drawn-out  struggle 
has  reached  its  final  stages,  and  Ireland  is 
winning.  No  one  realises  this  more  clearly  than 
the  enemy.  His  recent  admissions  prove  it. 
His  cunning  and  his  brute  force  have  availed  him 
nothing  in  the  end.  There  is  just  one  chance  left 
for  him,  that  is,  to  stimulate  emigration.  It 
saved  him  once  before  and  it  might  do  so  again. 
The  young  men  of  Ireland  must  stand  fast.  To 
leave  their  country  at  this  supreme  crisis  would 
be  nothing  less  than  base  desertion  in  the  face 
of  the  enemy.  We  look  upon  those  Irishmen  who 
have  joined  the  enemy  forces  as  degenerates,  and 
rightly  so.  But  the  Irishman  who  at  this  stage 
leaves  his  country,  or  withdraws  his  aid  in  the 
vital  struggle,  is  little  better.  In  fact,  he  is 
y^OTse  in  a  sense :  because  the  others  may  never 
have  seen  the  light,  but  he  has;  and  he  now 
deliberately  turns  his  back  upon  it.  There  can  be 
no  possible  excuse  for  desertion  at  the  present 
time.  The  plea  of  want  of  work  will  not  do. 
Employment  is  no  scarcer  now  than  it  was  during 
the  years  that  the  enemy  kept  the  ports  closed  and 
compelled  Irishmen  to  stay  at  home.  There  will 
be  plenty  of  employment  for  everyone  in  Ireland 
in  future.  The  Government  of  the  Republic  is 
at  present  engaged  upon  work  which  w411  ensure 
this.  All  that  is  needed  is  a  little  more  patience, 
and  then  a  bracing  up  for  the  final  tussle.  After 
that  no  Irishman  need  leave  his  native  land  in 
order  to  live  under  decent  conditions.  Before 
that  we  must  have  no  deserters. ' ' 

Finally,  an  extract  from  the  '  General  Notes  ' 


THE   FORCES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC.     179 

appearing  in  An  T'Oglac  for  July  15th,  1920, 
shows  the  policy  of  hindering  emigration  in 
active  operation  : — 

' '  Kerry  Volunteers  have  taken  direct  action  to 
prevent  emigration.  Young  men  of  military  age 
have  been  arrested  and  forbidden  to  leave  the 
country." 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  warlike  tone  oi  An 
T'Oglac,  it  is  evident  that  one  of  the  tasks  of 
Headquarters  is  to  keep  up  a  perpetual  campaign 
against  indiscipline  and  slackness  of  recruiting. 
An  article  entitled  '  Keep  up  the  Offensive  !  ' 
which  is  the  chief  feature  of  the  issue  of  July 
15th,  1920,  displays  this  very  clearly.  A  short 
extract  will  suffice  : — 

"  The  sense  of  discipline  of  the  Volunteers 
is  not  like  the  machine-made  discipline  of 
mercenaries;  it  has  its  basis  in  a  lofty  ideal  of 
service  to  and  self-sacrifice  for  the  nation.  It 
is  strange  that  men  who  by  their  membership  of 
the  Army  of  Ireland  show  their  willingness  to 
risk  death  for  the  Republic  should  in  some  cases 
show  a  reluctance  to  subject  themselves  to  the 
slight  discomforts  and  restraints  of  a  strict 
discipline. 

*'  The  Volunteer  Force,  being  a  voluntary 
army,  has  attracted  to  its  service  young  Irishmen 
of  spirit,  courage  and  a  sense  of  national  duty ; 
but  there  do  undoubtedly  remain  a  large  number 
of  young  men  who  would  make  good  Volunteers 
at  present  outside  the  force.  This  is  particularly 
so  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  where  it  is  chiefly 
due  to  imperfect  organisation;  but  everywhere 


180      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

suitable  men  are  available  who  for  some  reason 
have  not  been  got.  Recruiting  for  such  a  body 
as  the  Volunteers  must,  of  course,  be  done 
cautiously.  Only  suitable  men,  who  are  known 
and  vouched  for,  should  be  admitted;  but  there 
are  many  such  still  untapped  (sic),  and  a  serious 
effort  should  be  made  to  increase  our  strength 
everywhere.  Many  young  Irishmen  who  are  not 
in  the  ranks  would  readily  and  gladly  join,  and 
onc«  they  have  come  under  the  influence  of  the 
Volunteer  atmosphere  would  make  good  soldiers 
of  Ireland. 

"  It  is  necessary  that  all  the  strength,  all  the 
energy,  all  the  enthusiasm  and  all  the  efficiency 
of  the  armed  manhood  of  Ireland  should  be 
thrown  into  this  fight  against  the  enemy  at  the 
present  time.  .  .  .  His  strongholds  must  be 
attacked,  his  forces  surprised  and  disarmed,  his 
communications  interrupted,  his  despatches 
seized,  his  activities  watched,  his  machinery 
interfered  with,  his  supplies  cut  off  in  every  part 
of  the  country  with  such  persistence,  speed,  and 
ubiquity  that  he  will  not  be  able  to  get  his 
'  system  '  solidly  established  anywhere.  .  .  . 
All  should  vie  with  one  another  to  make  them- 
selves fit  and  worthy  soldiers  of  Ireland  and  to 
play  a  man's  part  in  this  glorious  war  which  we 
are  waging  for  our  country's  freedom." 

Two  interesting  examples  of  the  methods  by 
which  funds  were  raised  for  the  purposes  of  the 
Irish  Volunteers  may  be  adduced.  The  first  is 
contained  in  a  leaflet  issued  by  the  Brigade 
Commandant  of  the  Kilkenny  branch  of  the  Irish 


THE  FORCES  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.      181 

Volunteers  and  dated  July,  1920.     This  leaflet, 
which  was  distributed  by  being  placed  in  the 
letter-boxes  of  houses  in  the  district,  reads  as 
follows : — 
*'  Dear  Sir  (or  Madam), 

The  Irish  Volunteers,  in  addition  to  their 
usual  duties,  have  had,  recently,  the 
responsibility  of  preventing  crime,  arresting 
criminals,  affording  protection  where  required, 
etc.  This  work  has  exhausted  the  funds  at  our 
disposal  and  has  gone  beyond  the  financial 
resources  of  individual  Volunteers  and  it  has 
been  found  absolutely  necessary  to  issue  this 
appeal  for  funds  to  enable  them  to  carry  on  the 
necessary  public  work.  The  Volunteers  have 
fully  expended  their  energies  in  these  activities 
and  the  efficiency  of  their  work  has  been  admitted 
on  all  sides.  It  is  expected  that  those  who  are 
not  called  upon  to  give  their  time  will  help 
financially. ' ' 

It  should  be  observed  that  although  the  '  usual 
duties  '  of  the  Volunteers  are  referred  to,  they 
are  not  specified.  Presimiably  the  recipients  of 
the  leaflet  might  hesitate  to  finance  a  campaign 
of  murder  and  outrage.  But  the  veiled  threat 
contained  in  the  last  sentence  is  obvious,  and  the 
police  reports  contain  many  examples  of  its 
enforcement.  For  instance,  at  3  a.m.  on  October 
16th,  1920,  a  resident  of  Mount  pleasant,  near 
Wexford,  was  aroused  by  the  sound  of  his  front 
door  lock  being  blown  in  by  a  rifle  shot.  Nine 
masked  and  armed  men  entered  and  demanded 
at  the  point  of  the  revolver  a  * '  Munitions  Levy  ' ' 


182      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

of    £5,    which    was    perforce    given    them. 

The  zeal  of  the  Volunteers  for  activity  such 
as  would  evidence  that  '  efficiency  '  so  desired  by 
Headquarters  has  sometimes  led  to  ludicrous 
incidents.  On  the  fourth  of  October,  1920, 
twenty  barrels  of  treacle  were  stolen  from  the 
railway  goods  yard  at  Ballina,  Co.  Mayo,  by  a 
number  of  armed  men,  who  broke  the  barrels  and 
rolled  them  into  a  pond.  The  stationmaster, 
subsequently  received  a  note  to  the  effect  that  the 
treacle  had  been  "  confiscated  by  order  of  the 
Adjutant,  A  Company,  No.  1  Battalion,  North 
Mayo  Brigade,  I.R.A."  Credit  where  credit  is 
due! 

The  Irish  Republican  movement  has  not  been 
content  to  rely  solely  upon  the  manhood  of 
Ireland.  Both  the  women  and  the  boys  have  been 
enlisted,  the  former  in  an  organisation  kno'svn 
as  Cumann  na  m'Ban,  and  the  latter  in  the 
Fianna  Eireann,  which  their  own  pamphlet 
describes  as  '  The  Irish  National  Boy  Scouts 
Organisation.' 

In  a  pamphlet  dated  1914,  issued  by  the  former 
body,  entitled  '  The  Volimteers,  the  Women  and 
the  Nation,'  the  following  passages  occur,  and 
are  sufficiently  illustrative  of  the  aims  of  the 
movement : — 

"It  is  now  on  all  sides  acknowledged  that 
Cumann  na  m'Ban — the  Irishwomen's  Coimcil — 
is  the  most  vigorous  and  enterprising  of  all  the 
movements  that  have  grown  out  of  the  idea  of 
arming  and  drilling  the  nation. 

"  The  destiny  of  small  nations  always  finally 


THE  FORCES  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.      183 

depends  on  their  women.  This  is  a  truth  that 
every  leader  of  any  movement  in  this  country 
must  take  into  account ;  it  was  fully  realised  by 
the  great  leader  of  the  last  victorious  movement 
in  Ireland — Michael  Devitt — when  he  founded 
the  Ladies'  Land  League  as  the  last  line  of 
defence.  It  is  a  truth  perfectly  accepted  by  the 
young  captains  and  secretaries  of  the  Volunteers, 
who  help  us  of  the  Cumann  na  m'Ban  to  found 
our  branches  throughout  the  country." 

**  From  the  ranks  of  these  young,  daring,  and 
self-sacrificing  men  will  come  perhaps  the  great 
leader  we  are  all  looking  for." 

* '  We  stated  the  aims  of  our  new-born  political 
organisation  thus : — 

1.  To  advance  the  cause  of  Irish  liberty. 

2.  To  organise  Irishwomen  in  furtherance  of 
this  object. 

3.  To  assist  in  arming  and  equipping  a  body 
of  Irishmen  for  the  defence  of  Ireland. 

4.  To  form  a  fund  for  these  purposes  to  be 
called  '  The  Defence  of  Ireland  Fund.'  " 

'*  Every  day  some  body  of  women  struggling 
by  themselves  in  a  country  town  to  find  an  outlet 
for  their  patriotism,  and  their  desire  to  work  for 
Ireland,  realise  that  their  place  is  in  Cumann  na 
m'Ban.  And  so  steadily  the  movement  grows 
and  the  spirit  grows.  Where  the  members  of 
Cumann  na  m'Ban  are  most  numerous  the  spirit 
of  the  Volunteers  is  best.  What  are  recognised 
as  the  best  drilled  and  most  efficient  regiments  in 
the  country  are  backed  by  the  strongest  force  of 
women." 


184      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

"  From  the  start  we  of  Cumann  na  m'Ban 
decided  to  do  any  national  work  that  came  within 
the  scope  of  our  aims.  We  would  collect  money 
for  arms,  we  would  learn  ambulance  work, 
learn  how  to  make  haversacks  and  bandoliers,  we 
would  study  the  question  of  food  supplies,  we 
would  practise  the  use  of  the  rifle,  we  would 
make  speeches,  we  would  do  everything  that  came 
our  way — nothing  is  too  low  or  too  high  for  us 
to  attempt,  for  we  are  not  the  auxiliaries  or 
the  handmaidens  or  the  camp-followers  of  the 
Volunteers — we  are  their  allies.  We  are  an 
independent  body,  with  our  own  executive  and 
our  own  constitution.  If  some  unhappy  fate 
were  now  to  destroy  the  Volunteers,  Cumann  na 
m'Ban  is  not  only  capable  of  still  growing  and 
flourishing,  it  is  capable  of  bringing  the  whole 
Volunteer  movement  to  life  again." 

' '  Men  who  fight  the  battles  of  other  people  are 
either  fools  or  mercenaries." 

Perhaps  this  last  sentence  may  help  to  explain 
the  refusal  of  Irish  Republicans  to  assist  in  the 
fight  for  the  liberties  of  Belgium. 

In  1916  Cumann  na  m'Ban  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  insurrection  of  Easter  Week.  One  of 
its  widely  distributed  handbills  says  ''  Cumann 
na  m'Ban  is  proud  that  its  members  rallied  under 
the  Republican  flag  in  Easter  Week,  1916.  .  .  . 
by  taking  their  places  in  the  firing  line  and  in 
every  way  helping  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Irish  Republic." 

The  Constitution  of  the  Fianna  Eireann  sets 


THE  FORCES  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.      185 

out  the  policy  of  the  organisation  as  follows  : — 

**  Object. — To  re-establish  the  Independence 
of  Ireland. 

Means. — The  training  of  the  youth  of  Ireland, 
mentally  and  physically,  to  achieve  this  object 
by  teaching  scouting  and  military  exercises, 
Irish  history  and  the  Irish  language. 

Declaration. — '  I  promise  to  work  for  the 
Independence  of  Ireland,  never  to  join  England's 
armed  forces  and  to  obey  my  superior  officers.'  " 

The  Fianna,  whose  chief  in  1920  was  Countess 
Markievicz,  has  an  organisation  modelled  upon 
that  of  the  Irish  Volunteers,  distinctly  military 
in  its  principles.  The  unit  is  the  Slaugh  (Troop), 
and  the  governing  body  the  Ard-Choisde  (Central 
Council).'  The  nature  of  its  appeal  is  shown  by 
a  widely  distributed  hand-bill,  of  which  the 
following  is  the  wording  : — 

* '  Boys !  Ireland  is  calling  you,  Ireland  wants 
your  help  in  the  ranks  of  Fianna  Eireann,  the 
only  organisation  which  trains  boys  on  Irish- 
Ireland  lines,  without  distinction  of  creed,  class, 
or  politics. 

* '  Boys  1  Join  the  young  army  of  Ireland 
which  has  already  given  so  many  martyrs  to  the 
cause  of  Irish  Independence,  and  help  to  win 
the  crown  of  freedom  for  your  Motherland !  ' ' 

The  Headquarters  of  all  organisations  are  in 
Dublin,  while  the  rest  of  the  country  is  divided 
into  Brigade  Areas,  in  the  case  of  the  Volunteers, 
and  similar  districts  in  the  case  of  the  affiliated 
bodies. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ARMING   OF   THE   REPUBLIC. 

The  preceding  chapter  contained  some  account 
of  the  forces  of  the  '*  Irish  Republic,"  a 
Republic  that  was  never  recognised  outside 
Ireland,  and  existed  only  in  theory  in  that 
country.  The  Irish  Republic  is,  however,  a 
convenient  phrase  in  which  may  be  included  the 
various  Sinn  Fein  organizations  having  for  their 
object  the  establishment  of  an  independent 
nation.  The  Irish  Volunteers  constantly  describe 
themselves  as  the  Irish  Republican  Army  in  their 
orders  and  proclamations,  and  have  been 
constantly  referred  to  as  such  throughout  the 
last  few  years.  It  will  be  convenient  at  this  stage 
to  examine  the  means  by  which  the  Republican 
forces  have  been  supplied  with  arms,  and  the 
measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  disarm 
those  whose  possession  of  arms  was  a  source  of 
danger  to  the  community  and  a  menace  of  murder 
to  those  engaged  in  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order. 

To  deal  first  with  legislation.  By  an  Act  of 
Parliament  of  1847  power  was  given  to  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  to  proclaim  certain  regulations  to  be 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     187 

enforced  in  any  specified  district  of  Ireland, 
Among  these  regulations  was  one  to  the  effect  that 
"  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person  whom- 
soever (except  Justices  of  the  Peace,  Persons  in 
Her  Majesty's  Naval  or  Military  Service,  or  in 
the  Coast-Guard  Service,  or  in  the  Service  of  the 
Revenue,  or  in  the  Police  or  Constabulary  Force, 
or  Special  Constables,  or  Persons  duly  licensed 
to  kill  Game,  or  Persons  to  whom  any  Licence 
shall  have  been  granted  under  this  Act  as  herein- 
after secondly  mentioned)  to  carry  or  have  within 
the  District  specified  in  any  such  Proclamation, 
elsewhere  than  in  his  or  her  own  dwelling-house, 
any  Gun,  Pistol,  or  other  Fire-arm,  or  any  part 
or  parts  of  any  Gun,  Pistol,  or  other  Fire-arm, 
or  any  Sword,  Cutlass,  Pike,  or  Bayonet,  or 
any  Bullets,  Gunpowder,  or  other  Ammunition; 
and  every  Person  carrying  or  having  any  Gun, 
Pistol,  or  other  Fire-arm,  or  any  Sword,  Gutless, 
Pike,  or  Bayonet,  or  any  Bullet,  Gimpowder,  or 
Ammunition,  contrary  to  the  Provisions  of  this 
Act,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  Misdemeanour,  and  shall 
be  liable  on  conviction  thereof  to  be  imprisoned, 
with  or  without  hard  labour,  for  any  term  not 
exceeding  two  years." 

This  Act  appears  to  have  been  continued  until 
1856,  when  it  was  superseded  by  *'  The  Peace 
Preservation,  Ireland,  Act,  1856."  This  latter 
Act  continued  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  1847 
as  regards  possession  and  carrying  of  arms,  but 
reduced  the  penalty  to  "  imprisonment  for  any 
Period  not  exceeding  one  Year . ' ' 

In  1870  '*  The  Peace  Preservation,   Ireland, 


188      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Act,  1870  "  became  law,  and  by  it  the  penalty 
for  carrying  and  possessing  arms  was  raised  once 
more  to  imprisonment  for  any  period  up  to  two 
years.  Certain  other  modifications  of  the  original 
Act  were  also  introduced.  Of  these  the  principal 
were  as  follows  : — 

No  person,  although  holding  a  licence  to  carry 
arms,  was  allowed  to  carry  or  possess  ' '  any  fire- 
arm of  the  description  known  as  a  revolver," 
unless  the  licence  specially  sanctioned  such  a 
weapon.  Persons  holding  game  licences  must 
also  have  a  licence  to  carry  arms.  Arms  must 
only  be  sold  to  persons  licensed  to  have  them. 

This  Act  was  continued  under  the  provisions 
of  the  Expiring  Laws  Continuance  Act  until 
1875,  when  a  new  Act  became  law,  slightly 
modifying  the  Act  of  1870,  once  more  reducing 
the  penalty  from  two  years'  imprisonment  to  one, 
and  simplifying  the  machinery  for  granting 
licences.  This  Act  in  its  turn  was  continued 
under  the  Expiring  Laws  Continuance  Act  until 
1881,  when  "  An  Act  to  amend  the  Law  relating 
to  the  carrying  and  possession  of  Arms  and  for 
the  Preservation  of  the  Public  Peace  of  Ireland  ' ' 
was  passed,  and  became  known  as  The  Arms  Act. 

The  purport  of  this  Act  was  to  place  the  whole 
question  of  arms  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant.  He  was  empowered  to  "  proclaim  " 
any  particular  district,  and  by  his  proclamation 
to  make  such  regulations  for  the  possession  and 
carrying  of  arms  as  seemed  good  to  him.  Certain 
paragraphs  of  the  Act  are  worth  quoting  in  full. 

'*  In  a  proclaimed  district  a  person  shall  not 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     189 

carry  or  have  any  arms  or  ammunition  save  as 
authorised  by  the  conditions  set  forth  in  the 
proclamation  hereinafter  mentioned. 

"  Any  person  carrying  or  having,  or  reason- 
ably suspected  of  carrying  or  having  any  arms 
or  munitions  in  contravention  of  this  Act  may 
be  arrested  without  warrant  by  any  constable  or 
peace  officer,  and,  as  soon  as  reasonably  can  be, 
conveyed  before  some  justice  of  the  peace  in 
order  to  his  being  dealt  with  according  to  law. 
The  Lord  Lieutenant  may  by  warrant  direct 
any  person  named  in  such  warrant  to  search  in 
houses,  buildings,  and  places  situate  in  a  pro- 
claimed district  and  specified  in  the  w^arrant,  for 
any  arms  or  ammunition  suspected  to  be  therein 
in  contravention  of  this  Act. 

"  The  Lord  Lieutenant,  by  and  with  the 
advice  of  the  Privy  Council  in  Ireland,  may 
from  time  to  time  by  proclamation  declare  this 
Act  to  be  in  force  within  any  specified  part  of 
Ireland,  and  this  Act  shall  thereupon  after  the 
date  specified  in  the  proclamation  be  in  force 
within  such  specified  part,  and  any  such  specified 
part  of  Ireland  is  in  this  Act  referred  to  as  a  'pro- 
claimed district  ' ;  and  any  such  proclamation 
may  set  forth  the  conditions  and  regulations 
under  which  the  carrying  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion is  authorised,  and  make  provision  for  the 
appointment  of  persons  to  give  effect  to  the  same 
and  the  manner  of  the  promulgation  thereof." 

The  Arms  Act  originally  covered  a  period  from 
the  date  of  it  becoming  law  until  June  1st,  1886. 
It  was  extended  under  the  provision  of  the  Expir- 


190      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

ing  Laws  Continuance  Act  until  1906,  and  was 
then  allowed  to  lapse,  during  the  time  that  Mr. 
Bryce  was  Chief  Secretary. 

It  will  be  seen  that  under  these  various  Acts 
the  traffic  in  and  possession  of  arms  in  Ireland 
was  suitably  controlled,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  in  1906  the  possession  of  arms  was 
practically  limited  to  such  well-affected  citizens 
in  whose  hands  they  could  safely  be  trusted. 
But  from  1906  onwards  all  control  was  removed, 
and  from  that  date  importation  began  afresh, 
and  arms  of  all  kinds,  from  service  rifles  to  the 
more  dangerous  automatic  pistol,  began  to  be 
distributed  all  over  the  country.  It  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood 
and  the  organizations  it  controlled,  especially 
the  Irish  Volunteers,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
corresponding  but  antagonistic  societies  of 
Ulster,  would  allow  such  an  opportunity  to  slip. 
The  rate  of  distribution  increased  with  the 
threatening  horizon  of  events  in  1914,  and 
during  the  early  months  of  that  year  the  import 
of  arms  into  Ireland  reached  very  grave  propor- 
tions. It  was  not  until  the  outbreak  of  the  War 
that  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Act  gave  powers 
to  check  this  importation,  and  then  only 
indirectly. 

Regulation  31,  framed  under  this  Act,  is  as 
follows  : 

' '  No  person  shall  bring  into  the  United  King- 
dom or  remove  from  or  to  Great  Britain  to  or 
from  Ireland  any  fire-arms,  parts  of  fire-arms, 
military    arms,     parts    of    military    arms,    or 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     191 

ammunition  or  any  explosive  substance  or  bring 
into  Ireland  any  military  equipment  or  com- 
ponent parts  of  ammunition  without  a  permit 
from  the  competent  naval  or  military  authority, 
and  if  any  person  does  so  he  shall  be  guilty  of  an 
offence  against  these  regulations,  and  any  person 
who  has  in  his  possession  or  custody  or  under  his 
control  any  article  so  brought  or  removed  in  con- 
travention of  this  regulation  shall  be  guilty  of 
an  offence  against  these  regulations,  unless  he 
proves  that  he  did  not  know,  and  could  not  with 
reasonable  diligence  have  ascertained,  that  the 
article  was  so  brought  or  removed  in  contraven- 
tion of  this  regulation." 

This  regulation,  as  will  be  seen,  dealt  only  with 
the  further  importation  of  arms  into  the  country. 
It  was  still  no  offence  to  carry  or  possess  arms, 
and  even  after  the  lesson  conveyed  by  the  Easter 
Rebellion  of  1916  no  steps  were  taken  to  render 
the  having  of  arms  illegal.  Regulation  9AA 
under  the  Act  provides  as  follows  : 

* '  In  any  area  in  respect  of  which  the  operation 
of  Section  1  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  (Amend- 
ment) Act,  1915,  is  for  the  time  being  suspended 
(in  other  words,  in  areas  such  as  Ireland  where 
offenders  against  the  Regulations  are  necessarily 
tried  by  Court  Martial),  the  competent  naval  or 
military  authority  may  make  orders  prohibiting 
or  restricting  .  .  .  the  carrying,  having  or 
keeping  of  fire-arms,  military  arms,  ammunition 
or  explosive  substances." 

Nothwithstanding  the  powers  conferred  on  the 
Competent     Military     Authority     under     this 


192      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Regulation,  it  was  not  until  28th  September, 
1918,  that  any  order  was  made.  On  that  date, 
however,  the  following  was  issued  : 

"  Whereas  in  many  parts  of  Ireland  private 
dwelling  houses  and  other  places  have  been 
illegally  raided  by  lawless  men,  and  firearms, 
military  arms,  ammunition  and  explosive  sub- 
stances have  been  seized  therefrom,  and  whereas 
such  seizures  have  been  made  and  are  likely  to  be 
made  for  purposes  prejudicial  to  the  public 
safety  and  the  Defence  of  the  Realm,  and  it  is 
necessary  for  the  purposes  of  securing  the  public 
safety  and  the  Defence  of  the  Realm,  to  have 
under  effective  military  control  all  firearms,  mili- 
tary arms,  ammunition  and  explosive  substances 
at  present  not  under  such  control, 

"  Now  I,  Lieu  tenant-General  the  Right 
Honourable  Sir  F.  Shaw,  K.C.B.,  General 
Officer  Commanding-in-Chief,  Ireland,  Com- 
petent Military  Authority  for  Ireland,  in  exer- 
cise of  the  powers  conferred  on  me  by  Regulations 
9AA  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Regulations, 
Hereby  Order  that  throughout  Ireland  (being  an 
area  in  respect  of  which  the  operation  of  Section 
One  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  (Amendment) 
Act,  1915,  is  for  the  time  being  suspended),  the 
carrying,  having  or  keeping  of  fire-arms,  military 
arms,  ammunition  of  explosive  substances,  is 
prohibited,  unless  such  articles  are  under  effective 
military  control. 

"  This  prohibition  shall  not  apply  in  the  case 
of  any  member  of  His  Majesty's  Forces  or  of  any 
member  of  the  Forces  of  His  Majesty's  Allies,  or 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     193 

of  any  member  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary, 
or  of  any  member  of  the  Dublin  Metropolitan 
Police,  or  in  the  case  of  any  person  to  whom  a 
Competent  Naval  or  Military  Authority,  or  any 
person  authorised  by  him,  has  given  permission 
in  writing  to  carry,  have  or  keep  fire-arms,  mili- 
tary arms,  ammunition  or  explosive  substances. 

' '  This  Order,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  having 
dr  keeping  of  fire-arms,  military  arms,  ammuni- 
tion or  explosive  substances  shall  take  effect  as 
from  the  9th  day  of  October,  1918,  inclusive." 

Details  are  added  to  the  Order,  setting  out  the 
method  of  obtaining  Permits,  and  also  the 
method  of  disposal  of  arms  by  such  persons  who 
have  not  obtained  a  Permit.  This  latter  instruc- 
tion is  interesting. 

*'  Persons  who  have  not  obtained  a  permit  as 
required  by  this  Order,  and  are,  therefore,  pro- 
hibited from  carrying,  having  or  keeping  fire- 
arms, military  arms,  ammunition  or  explosive 
substances  should,  as  soon  as  possible,  and  in  any 
case,  on  or  before  the  9th  day  of  October,  hand 
in  all  articles  of  the  kind  in  their  possession  to 
any  Military  Centre,  or,  if  the  owners  prefer,  to 
any  Police  Barrack  or  Police  Station.  Arms  so 
handed  in  should  be  previously  cleaned  and  well 
oiled,  and  all  articles,  packages,  etc.,  should  be 
distinctly  and  securely  labelled  with  the  name 
and  address  of  the  owner  and  with  a  description 
of  the  arms,  etc. 

"  The  owner  should  ask  for,  and  is  entitled 
to  receive  therefor,  a  receipt  from  the  official  to 
whom  they  are  handed. 

N 


194      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

"  Cartridges  should  be  securely  packed  in 
boxes  or  strong  paper  with  the  total  number  of 
them  stated  on  the  label. 

"  All  articles  handed  in  will  be  carefully  and 
safely  kept  under  effective  Military  control  by 
the  Military  authorities,  and  will  be  returned  to 
the  owner  or  his  legal  representative  if,  and 
when,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Ck)mpetent  Military 
Authority,  this  can  be  done  with  due  regard  to 
the  public  safety,  or,  if  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Competent  Military  Authority  they  are  required 
for  the  defence  of  the  Realm." 

The  issue  of  this  Order  makes  the  having  of 
fire-arms  without  a  permit  an  offence  under  the 
Regulations  throughout  the  whole  of  Ireland, 
and  thus  renders  the  possessors  of  any  such 
weapon  liable  to  be  tried  by  Court  Martial. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  total  number  of 
arms  surrendered  was  wholly  disproportionate  to 
the  number  of  arms  in  possession  of  the  civil 
population  at  the  date  of  the  issue  of  the  Order. 

The  position  in  October,  1918,  was  therefore 
that  a  large  number  of  arms  of  all  descriptions, 
sporting  and  military  rifles  of  all  kinds,  new  and 
obsolete,  shot  guns  of  various  types,  and  pistols 
of  every  conceivable  variety,  w^ere  held  by  the 
populace  contrary  to  law.  Although  the  Regu- 
lations gave  power  to  the  authorities  to  search 
for  these. 

"  The  competent  naval  or  military  authority 
or  any  person  authorised  by  him,  or  any  police 
constable  : — 

{a)  If  he  suspects  that  any  fire-arms,  military 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     195 

arms,  ammunition  or  explosive  substances  are, 
or  are  kept,  in  or  upon  any  house,  building,  land, 
vehicle,  vessel,  or  other  premises  in  contravention 
of  an  order  under  this  regulation,  may  enter,  if 
need  be  by  force,  the  house,  building,  land, 
vehicle,  or  premises  at  any  time  of  the  day  or 
night  and  examine,  search,  and  inspect  the  same 
or  any  part  thereof,  and  may  seize  any  fire-arms, 
military  arms,  ammimition  or  explosive  sub- 
stances found  therein  or  thereon  which  he 
suspects  to  be,  or  to  be  kept  therein  or  tnereon  in 
contravention  of  this  order ;  and 

(b)  If  he  suspects  that  any  person  is  carrying 
any  fire-arms,  military  arms,  ammunition  or 
explosive  substances  in  contravention  of  any 
such  order,  may  stop  that  person  and  search 
him;" 

it  can  well  be  imagined  that  in  a  country  like 
Ireland,  affording  every  facility  for  concealment, 
any  such  search  must  frequently  prove  unavail- 
ing, and  that  a  systematic  combing  of  the 
country-side  for  concealed  arms  was  out  of  the 
question. 

The  possessors  of  arms  in  the  country  might  be 
roughly  classified  under  three  heads :  civilians 
possessing  arms  with  a  permit  under  the  order, 
civilians  possessing  arms  unlawfully,  and  the 
various  Forces  of  the  Crown — ^military,  police, 
and  coast-guards.  Of  these  three  classes,  the 
first  were  mainly  well-disposed  citizens,  owning 
merely  sporting  weapons  as  a  rule,  the 
second  mainly  Republican  sympathisers,  owning 
weapons  of  all  kinds  either  in  their  capacity 


196      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

of  Volunteers  or  for  some  private  and  sinister 
purpose,  while  the  third  carried  the  weapons 
peculiar  to  their  calling,  rifles,  automatic 
pistols,  and  revolvers.  The  policy  of  the 
authorities  was  to  diminish  the  numbers  of 
arms-holders  of  the  second  class  as  much  as 
possible,  by  searches  based  upon  information 
received  and  confiscation  of  any  weapons  found. 
The  policy  of  the  Volunteers  was  to  capture  the 
arms  held  by  the  first  and  third  class,  in  order  to 
augment  their  own  supplies.  It  w^as  this  latter 
policy  that  led  to  two  well-marked  varieties  of 
their  activity,  namely  raids  for  arms  upon 
private  owners  and  organised  attacks  upon 
barracks,  coast-guard  stations,  lighthouses,  and 
parties  of  men  carrying  arms. 

We  may  deal  first  with  the  question  of  raids 
for  arms,  it  being  understood  that  for  this 
purpose  "  arms  "  may  be  taken  to  include  what 
the  Regulations  style  "  ammunition  or  explosive 
substances. ' ' 

It  must  be  realized  that  the  capture  of  arms 
already  in  Ireland  was  the  main  source  of  supply 
to  the  Republican  sympathisers.  The  importa- 
tion of  arms  was  difficult,  although  smuggling 
undoubtedly  took  place  to  a  certain  extent, 
mainly  through  the  medium  of  passengers' 
baggage.  It  was  indeed  the  difficulty  of  carry- 
ing out  a  sufficiently  thorough  examination  of 
baggage  that  was  one  of  the  contributory  causes 
of  the  closing  of  Queenstown  to  eastward-bound 
Atlantic  liners.  Occasionally,  too,  it  happened 
that  vessels  lying  in  Irish  harbours  were  raided 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     197 

by  the  Volunteers  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  such 
arms  as  they  possessed;  for  instance,  about  mid- 
night on  30th  August,  1920,  a  party  of  armed 
men  boarded  the  Swedish  steamer  Thyra,  which 
was  lying  in  Fenit  Harbour,  Co.  Kerry,  and 
carried  away  three  rifles  and  eight  hundred 
rounds  of  ammunition.  But  opportunities  such 
as  these  were  of  course  comparatively  rare,  and 
reliance  had  necessarily  to  be  placed  upon  arms 
previously  imported. 

The  Volunteers  were  most  careful  to  organize 
raids  for  arms  in  order  to  secure  the  maximum 
result  from  them  and  the  most  suitable  distri- 
bution of  such  arms  after  their  capture.  Fre- 
quent references  occur  in  ^47^  T'Oglac  to  an  order 
that  individual  Volunteers  were  not  to  carry  out 
raids  on  their  own  initiative,  but  were  only  to 
act  under  instructions  from  the  proper  authority. 
A  "  general  order  "  issued  on  14th  June,  1920, 
by  the  "  Adjutant  General  "  of  Oglaigh  na 
h'Eireann  (the  Irish  Volunteers,  Oglaigh  =  a 
soldier)  refers  to  the  matter  and  indicates  the 
anxiety  felt  by  the  Headquarters  of  the  Volun- 
teers lest  the  authorities  should  be  beforehand  in 
securing  arms  in  any  district.  It  runs  as 
follows : — 

"  Seizure  of  Arms  by  the  Enemy.  All 
seizures  of  arms  and  military  stores  in  Brigade 
Area  will  be  immediately  reported  to  Head- 
quarters. Full  details  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  taken  will  be  indicated." 

Another  "  general  order  "  dated  26th  May, 
1920,  lays  down  that  "  No  action  of  anything 


198      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

like  a  military  nature  (a  definition  which  includes 
raids  for  arms)  shall  be  taken  or  ordered  to  be 
taken  by  any  Volunteers,  except  in  so  far  as  this 
is  covered  by  definite  orders  or  permission 
actually  received  from  his  superior  officer." 

The  number  of  raids  for  arms  soon  reached 
extraordinary  proportions,  as  can  be  gathered 
from  the  following  figures.  From  1st  January 
1920  to  1st  January  1921  the  number  of  raids  for 
arms  reported  to  or  discovered  by  the  police  was 
2,801,  of  which  982  were  carried  out  in  a  single 
week,  from  29th  August  1920  to  4th  September 
1920.  This  week  appears  to  have  been  the 
beginning  of  a  centrally  organized  policy  on  the 
part  of  the  Volunteers.  Until  then  these  raids 
appear  to  have  been  due  to  the  activities  of  the 
local  companies  and  battalions,  but  from  that 
week  they  were  evidently  conducted  upon  some 
general  plan  embracing  the  whole  country,  and 
probably  therefore  directed  by  Headquarters. 
The  Provinces  of  Leinster  and  Ulster  were  chiefly 
affected  in  this  particular  week.  In  the  former 
alone  between  three  and  four  hundred  raids  were 
made,  well  over  a  hundred  of  which  took  place  in 
County  Meath.  In  Ulster  raids  took  place  in 
every  county  except  Londonderry  and  Antrim, 
and  numbered  in  all  about  three  hundred.  The 
total  number  of  arms  secured  in  these  raids 
throughout  the  whole  country  during  the  week 
was  over  six  hundred,  including  weapons  of  all 
kinds,  but  mainly  sporting  guns.  In  a  number 
of  cases  the  owners  of  the  weapons  resisted  the 
raiders,  of  whom  five  were  known  to  have  been 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     199 

killed  and  eight  wounded.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  peaceful  citizen  was  killed  and  five,  including 
a  woman,  were  wounded  while  defending  their 
property. 

The  methods  of  carrying  out  these  raids  varied 
very  little,  and  a  few  examples  will  serve  to  show 
what  those  methods  were. 

On  the  night  of  August  31st,  1920,  nine  houses 
in  the  Clones  district,  Co.  Monaghan,  were 
raided  by  armed  men  in  search  for  arms.  A 
woman  aged  65  was  shot  and  dangerously 
wounded  in  one  of  these  houses. 

On  the«same  date  a  retired  County  Inspector  of 
the  R.I.C.  was  dangerously  wounded  in  the 
course  of  a  raid  for  arms  upon  his  house  in  Co. 
Tipperary. 

On  the  20th  September,  1920,  six  houses  in  the 
Howth  district,  Co.  Dublin,  were  raided  for  arms 
by  a  party  of  armed  and  masked  men,  who 
secured  six  shot  guns  and  twenty-nine  cartridges. 
The  cases  were  not  reported  to  the  police  until 
they  called  at  the  houses  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting  the  arms  for  safe  custody. 

This  last  case  illustrates  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  securing  accurate  information  as  to  raids 
for  arms  in  particular  and  outrages  in  general. 
There  were  always  two  reasons  which  deterred 
the  ordinary  civil  population  from  reporting  the 
activities  of  the  Volunteers  to  the  police.  The 
first  was  the  rule  of  intimidation  under  which 
the  country  had  fallen,  and  the  second  was  a 
possibly  uneasy  conscience.  The  question  of 
intimidation    is    dealt    with    elsewhere,    it    is 


200      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

sufiBcient  here  to  state  that  persecution  of  some 
kind  almost  invariably  overtook  the  cx>nveyor  of 
information  to  the  police.  As  for  the  possession 
of  an  uneasy  conscience,  there  v^^ere  many  owners 
of  arms  who,  although  they  kept  them  normally 
for  innocent  purposes,  had  failed  to  take  steps  to 
apply  for  a  permit,  very  often  from  a  suspicion 
that  their  records  were  not  such  as  to  facilitate 
the  granting  of  a  permit. 

From  the  Volunteers'  point  of  view  the  opera- 
tions were  simple.  In  the  first  place,  the  objects 
of  their  attention  were  usually  owners  of  arms 
with  permits,  who  had  therefore  no  reason  for 
concealment  of  their  weapons.  In  the  second  the 
raiders  were  local  men,  who  found  no  difficulty 
in  learning  who  owned  arms  and  where  these  were 
kept.  All  that  was  necessary  was  for  a  party  of 
men,  who  might  or  might  not  take  the  trouble  to 
disguise  themselves,  to  force  their  way  into  a 
house  by  night,  hold  up  the  occupants  at  the 
points  of  their  revolvers,  take  the  arms,  and 
disappear,  long  before  the  alarm  could  be  con- 
veyed to  the  nearest  police.  Even  if  they  were 
recognized,  the  chances  were  enormously  against 
information  being  laid  against  them.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  despoiled  owner,  it  was  far 
better  in  the  long  run  to  bear  the  loss  of  his 
property  in  silence  than  to  incur  the  enmity  of 
the  local  Volunteers.  Boycott  and  even  personal 
violence  are  two  evils  against  which  any  possible 
form  of  police  protection  is  practically  powerless. 

Organized  attacks  upon  Grovernment  establish- 
ments containing  arms  or  explosives,   or  upon 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     201 

parties  of  armed  men  for  the  purpose  of  disai*m- 
ing  them,  may  be  divided  into  attacks  upon 
police  barracks,  military  barracks,  coast-guard 
stations  and  lighthouses,  policemen,  and  soldiers. 
These  attacks  were  necessarily  somewhat 
different,  both  in  scope  and  execution,  from 
simple  raids  upon  the  houses  of  civilians.  They 
required  a  greater  force  to  carry  them  out  and 
more  careful  preparation  in  order  to  ensure  their 
success.  Further,  the  percentage  of  success  was 
very  much  smaller.  Although  attempted  with 
the  advantages  of  surprise  and  overwhelming 
numbers  on  the  side  of  the  attackers,  it  frequently 
happened  that  the  latter  wfere  driven  off  with 
considerable  loss.  The  whole  question  of  these 
attacks  is  dealt  with  in  another  chapter,  here  we 
need  be  concerned  with  them  only  as  they  affect 
the  question  of  the  securing  of  arms  by  the 
raiders. 

It  must  again  be  stated  that  '  *  arms  ' '  must  be 
understood  as  including  not  only  weapons  but 
explosives  and  military  stores  of  all  kinds. 
Explosives  were  required  for  many  purposes, 
such  as  the  destruction  of  property  and  the  manu- 
facture of  bombs.  It  may  be  remarked  in 
passing  that  light  was  thrown  upon  the  latter 
activity  of  the  Volunteers  by  a  letter  found  in  the 
City  Hall  at  Cork  on  the  occasion  of  the  arrest 
of  Terence  McSwiney.  This  letter  is  headed 
"  G.H.Q.  Dublin,"  under  date  30th  of  June, 
1920,  and  is  addressed  to  O.C.  Cork,  No.  1 
Brigade,  the  post  held  by  Mr.  McSwiney.  It 
runs  as  follows  : 


202      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

' '  Will  you  kindly  report  as  soon  as  possible  if 
there  are  any  facilities  in  your  area  for  the 
manufacture  of  grenades.  By  this  I  do  not 
necessarily  mean  heavy  foundry  work.  If  you 
can  get  a  man  who  understands  moulding  to  cast 
iron  cases  from  a  pattern  which  we  can  supply, 
it  will  meet  the  situation.  We  can  then  supply 
necks  in  required  numbers,  these  containing 
spring,  striker,  percussion  cap,  fuse  and 
detonator,  and  if  it  be  possible  to  cast  even  two 
cases  a  day,  something  at  least  will  be  done  to 
speed  up  output.  The  need  for  this  is  very 
pressing  just  now. ' ' 

The  letter  is  signed  "  T.  Mc,  Director  of 
Munitions." 

The  manufacture  of  bombs  by  the  Republicans 
was  not  always  profitable  to  themselves.  On  13th 
October,  1920,  an  unoccupied  house  at  Saltmills, 
near  T intern,  Co.  Wexford,  was  shattered  by 
an  explosion.  An  armed  party  rushed  to 
the  spot  from  the  nearest  police  barracks,  and 
found  the  building  totally  wrecked.  Seven 
corpses  were  found,  and  five  badly  wounded 
people  were  taken  to  hospital  in  custody.  Two 
pthers  known  to  have  been  there  were  missing, 
and  were  believed  to  have  been  blown  to  pieces. 
Some  less  seriously  wounded  had  been  taken  away 
by  the  survivors.  A  local  body  of  Republicans 
had  been  engaged  in  manufacturing  bombs  for 
the  purposes  of  attack  on  police  and  soldiers. 
The  usual  type  of  bomb  made  on  these  occasions 
is  a  rough  iron  casting  containing  explosives  and 
fragments  of  metal.     This  is  provided  with  a 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     203 

short  fuse  which  has  to  be  ignited  by  the  thrower. 
Similar  accidents  to  amateur  Republican  muni- 
tion makers  had  occurred  before,  but  they  were 
kept  quiet  by  the  Republicans  and  the  relatives 
of  the  victims  were  simply  informed  that  the 
latter  had  "  gone  to  America."  The  type  of 
bomb  manufactured  is  easily  made  out  of 
explosives  raided  from  quarries  and  lighthouses. 

Military  and  police  equipment  was  required 
not  only  for  the  normal  fitting  out  of  the  Volun- 
teers, but  also  for  purposes  of  disguise.  On 
many  occasions  Volunteers  disguised  as  police- 
men or  soldiers  effected  entry  into  barracks,  and 
even  caused  local  disturbances  in  order  to  inflame 
opinion  against  the  Forces  of  the  Crown. 
Parties  of  them  so  disguised  are  known  to  have 
driven  through  villages  at  night,  firing  revolvers, 
in  order  to  make  capital  out  of  the  subsequent 
report  of  the  "  shooting  up  "  of  the  villages  by 
uniformed  men. 

The  best  method  of  illustrating  the  various 
outrages  into  which  raids  upon  Government 
establishments  and  personnel  have  been  classified 
will  be  to  give  statistics  and  examples.  Attacks 
on  military  and  police  barracks  are  dealt  with 
statistically  elsewhere,  but  examples  of  the 
capture  of  arms  in  these  attacks  can  properly  be 
dealt  with  here. 

Dealing  first  with  police  barracks,  the  attack 
upon  Schull  R.I.C.  barracks  is  a  good  example 
of  the  methods  of  the  Volunteers.  At  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening  of  4th  October,  1920,  a 
large  party  of  armed  and  disguised  men  made 


204      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

their  way  towards  the  barracks,  which  are 
situated  in  the  Skibbereen  district.  Two  or 
three  of  them  knocked  on  the  back  door,  and  upon 
being  challenged,  gave  the  correct  countersign. 
The  door  was  opened,  and  about  twenty  men  of 
the  party  rushed  in  and  held  up  the  police  inside, 
while  others  held  up  the  six  police  who  were  on 
duty  outside  the  barracks.  The  raiders  then 
proceeded  to  seize  all  the  arms  they  could  lay 
their  hands  upon,  consisting  of  four  service 
rifles,  nine  carbines,  four  shot  guns,  eight 
revolvers,  three  automatic  pistols,  four  Verey 
pistols,  1,300  rounds  of  rifle  ammunition,  256 
rounds  of  revolver  ammunition,  40  shot  gun 
cartridges,  63  rounds  of  automatic  pistol 
ammunition,  36  Mills  bombs,  24  hand  grenades, 
48  rounds  of  Verey  pistol  ammunition,  and  10 
parachute  cartridges.  In  addition  to  this  haul 
the  raiders  took  13  sets  of  accoutrements,  and  a 
number  of  arms  which  had  recently  been  sur- 
rendered to  or  captured  by  the  police,  consisting 
of  13  shot  guns,  44  shot  gun  cartridges,  3 
revolvers  and  5  rounds  of  revolver  ammunition. 
The  raiders  placed  all  the  police  records  and 
most  of  the  barrack  bedding  in  a  pile  and  burnt 
them  together  with  the  buildings.  The  police 
were  searched,  stripped  of  their  accoutrements, 
and  then  conducted  at  the  point  of  the  revolver 
to  certain  houses  in  the  village. 

This  was  an  exceptional  case,  and  is  quoted 
merely  to  illustrate  the  method.  The  success  of 
raids  upon  occupied  barracks  has  been  very  slight, 
in  many  cases  small  bodies  of  police  have  put  up 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     205 

heroic  defences  against  parties  of  raiders  many 
times  out-numbering  them.  Further  particulars 
of  such  defences  will  be  dealt  with  in  the  chapter 
dealing  with  the  R.I. C. 

The  same  remarks  may  be  applied  to  attacks 
upon  military  barracks.  On  a  few  occasions  the 
raiders  succeeded  in  surprising  the  garrison  and 
capturing  arms,  but  far  more  frequently  they 
were  driven  off  with  heavy  losses,  which  could  not 
be  determined  owing  to  the  secrecy  displayed  by 
the  Volunteers  in  the  disposal  of  their  casualties. 
It  became  a  common  expression  in  Ireland  that 
a  man  had  ' '  gone  to  America, ' '  a  phrase  imply- 
ing that  he  had  been  killed  in  the  course  of 
fighting  with  the  police  or  military  and  had  been 
secretly  buried. 

Perhaps  the  best  example  of  a  successful  attack 
upon  a  military  barracks  occurred  at  Mallow, 
Co.  Cork,  on  28th  September,  1920.  In  this 
case  the  surprise  was  most  carefully  planned. 
A  party  of  fifty  armed  men  waited  until  half 
past  nine  in  the  morning,  when  the  majority  of 
the  occupants  of  the  barracks,  the  17th  Lancers, 
were  out  exercising  horses.  They  then  rushed 
the  sentry,  disarmed  him,  swept  into  the  guard- 
room, and  engaged  the  guard.  In  the  fight 
which  ensued  the  sergeant  of  the  guard  was 
fatally  wounded,  and  his  men  were  eventually 
overpowered.  One,  however,  escaped  and  leap- 
ing on  a  horse  galloped  out  to  recall  the  rest  of  the 
garrison.  The  raiders  meanwhile  loaded  up  all 
the  arms  they  could  find  into  two  motor-cars, 
and  made  an  effort  to  burn  down  the  barracks  by 


206      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

placing  trusses  of  hay  in  the  barrack-rooms, 
saturating  them  with  petrol,  and  setting  them 
on  fire.  In  this  they  were  not  successful,  owing 
probably  to  their  eagerness  to  decamp  before 
they  were  interrupted.  The  arms  captured  on 
this  occasion  consisted  of  25  service  rifles,  2 
Hotchkiss  machine  guns,  4,000  rounds  of 
ammunition,  and  20  swords  and  lances,  together 
with  some  boots  and  equipment. 

Raids  on  barracks,  both  military  and  police, 
are  dealt  with  elsewhere,  as  has  already  been 
explained.  But  raids  on  lighthouse  and  coast- 
guard stations,  since  they  have  for  their  exclusive 
object  the  capture  of  arms  and  explosives,  may 
be  fully  dealt  with  here.  These  establishments 
are  equipped  with  explosives  and  signalling 
apparatus  for  the  sole  purpose  of  assisting 
navigation.  Lighthouses  in  many  cases  give 
warning  during  foggy  weather  by  means  of 
explosive  sound  signals,  similar  to  "  maroons." 
Coast-guard  stations  are  supplied  with  devices 
for  saving  life  from  wrecks,  including  rockets, 
and  signalling  devices  which  involve  the  use  of 
explosive  substances.  Through  long  custom 
shipping  has  learnt  to  depend  upon  these  con- 
ditions, and  any  interference  with  them  could 
not  but  tend  to  induce  mariners  to  avoid  coasts 
where  such  interference  was  apt  to  take  place. 
But  the  incidental  causing  of  danger  to  shipping 
did  not  weigh  with  the  Republican  leaders  in 
their  desperate  search  for  explosives.  Between 
Ist  January,  1920,  and  1st  January,  1921,  forty- 
six  raids  were  made  upon  lighthouses  and  coast- 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.    207 

guard  stations,  and  in  nearly  every  case  the 
essential  equipment  of  the  establishment  was 
removed. 

On  31st  July,  1920,  six  men,  masked  and  dis- 
guised and  some  carrying  rifles,  made  their  way 
into  Mizen  Head  lighthouse,  demanded  the  key 
of  the  magazine  from  the  lighthouse  keeper  on 
watch,  and  took  away  all  the  explosives  they 
found  there.  Mizen  Head  lighthouse  is  situated 
in  the  extreme  south-west  of  Ireland,  and  is  of 
the  first  importance  as  the  landfall  for  eastbound 
vessels  proceeding  to  Queenstown  and  Liverpool 
via  St.  George's  Channel. 

On  24th  September,  1920,  at  five  minutes  past 
eleven  in  the  morning,  thirteen  armed  men  forced 
their  way  into  Hook  Head  lighthouse,  on  the 
south  coast  of  Co.  Wexford,  and  took  away  820 
charges  of  gun-cotton,  2,165  detonators,  and  2 
telescopes.  In  both  the  above  cases  the  lighthouses 
in  question  were  thus  rendered  utterly  useless  aa 
aids  to  navigation  in  foggy  weather. 

Raids  upon  coast-guard  stations  were  carried 
out  upon  very  similar  lines.  The  most  striking 
example  is  the  practically  simultaneous  attack 
on  two  stations  five  miles  distant  from  one 
another  :  at  Castletownbeer  and  Ballycrovane  on 
the  northern  shores  of  Bantry  Bay,  on  July  25th, 
1920.  The  former  station  was  attacked  by  a 
number  of  armed  men  shortly  after  mid-day. 
Two  of  the  raiders  dressed  in  khaki  rode  up  to 
the  station  on  military  bicycles,  and  were  allowed 
to  approach  by  the  coastguardsman  on  duty, 
who  naturally  took  them  for  British  soldiers. 


208      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

They  suddenly  held  him  up  at  the  points  of  their 
revolvers,  whereupon  their  companions  broke 
cover  and  rushed  in.  Some  attacked  the 
Divisional  Officer  with  an  axe,  while  others  set  to 
work  to  find  arms.  After  a  sharp  tussle  the 
raiders  were  driven  off  before  any  injuries  had 
been  sustained  by  the  garrison.  One  of  the 
raiders  was  subsequently  found  in  the  vicinity 
with  a  broken  leg,  and  was  arrested. 

Twenty  minutes  later  the  storm  burst  upon 
Ballycrovane.  Here  there  was  no  attempt  at 
surprise.  A  party  of  about  150  men  rushed  the 
station  and  killed  Chief  Officer  Snowden  and 
Petty  Officer  Brown  while  they  were  endeavour- 
ing to  defend  the  place  against  such  overwhelm- 
ing odds.  The  remainder  of  the  garrison,  eight 
men  in  all,  were  compelled  to  surrender  when 
they  had  expended  their  ammunition.  The 
raiders,  who  are  known  to  have  suffered  heavily, 
carried  off  with  them  twelve  rifles,  four  pistols,  a 
typewriter  and  some  rockets. 

The  subject  of  attacks  upon  isolated 
individuals  or  bodies  of  soldiers  or  police  is  dealt 
with  elsewhere,  as  in  most  cases  the  principal 
object  of  these  attacks  was  murder,  and  the  cap- 
ture of  arms  or  equipment  was  only  incidental. 
But  in  many  cases  ambushes  were  laid  for  lonely 
men  or  for  small  parties,  apparently  with  the  sole 
purpose  of  disarming  them  or  taking  their 
equipment.  For  instance,  at  3  p.m.  on  19th 
September,  1920,  a  soldier  on  a  bicycle  conveying 
a  despatch  from  Mullinahone  to  Knockvilla,  in 
County  Tipperary,  was  held  up  by  a  party  of 


THE  ARMING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.     209 

armed  and  masked  men  who  deprived  him  of  his 
bicycle  and  uniform.  He  was  astute  enough  to 
conceal  his  despatch  from  his  assailants  and 
succeeded  in  delivering  it  intact. 

During  the  morning  of  15th  September,  1920, 
a  train  was  held  up  at  Morley's  Bridge,  Co. 
Kerry,  by  a  party  of  armed  men.  Two  con- 
stables of  the  R.I.C.  who  were  travelling  in  the 
train  were  disarmed. 

It  would  be  possible  to  cite  many  more 
instances  of  the  capture  of  arms  by  the  Volun- 
teers, but  sufficient  has  already  been  said  to 
enable  some  idea  to  be  gained  of  the  methods  by 
which  the  Republicans  endeavoured  to  augment 
the  stores  of  arms  at  their  disposal  in  despite  of 
the  efforts  of  the  Grovemment. 


o 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE. 

Having  now  traced  the  organization  and  arma- 
ment of  the  Republican  forces,  we  are  in  a 
position  to  deal  with  the  campaign  of  outrage 
carried  out  by  them,  a  campaign  which  has 
spread  horror  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
The  point  of  view  of  the  organizers  of  the  out- 
rage campaign  is  difficult  to  understand.  It  is 
easy  to  imagine  that  the  rank  and  file,  and  even 
the  junior  officers,  of  the  Volunteers,  having  been 
carefully  trained  in  military  duties,  might  wel- 
come the  exhortations  of  An  T'Oglac  to  carry  out 
a  guerilla  warfare  against  the  British  armed 
forces.  Throughout  their  history  Irishmen  have 
shown  a  fighting  spirit  which  could,  by  the  arts 
of  skilful  leaders  of  men,  be  turned  into  any 
channel.  The  valour  of  the  Irish  regiments  of 
the  British  Army  is  proof  enough  of  this.  The 
murder  of  policemen  and  soldiers  is  perhaps  only 
the  perversion  of  this  fighting  spirit  under  the 
influence  of  malignant  leadership.     The  Volun- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      211 

teers  have  been  laboriously  trained  to  regard  the 
English  as  their  natural  enemies,  and  after  a 
time  they  have  developed  the  instinct  to  slay  these 
enemies  upon  any  favourable  opportunity,  by  fair 
means  or  foul. 

But  the  same  reasoning  cannot  apply  to  the 
responsible  leaders  of  the  Republican  movement. 
They  cannot  have  believed  at  any  time  that  the 
British  Empire  could  be  defeated  by  any  methods 
which  they  could  adopt,  or  even  be  terrorised  into 
granting  the  status  of  an  independent  Republic 
to  Ireland  at  any  cost  of  destruction  and  blood- 
shed. In  turning  the  country  into  a  shambles 
they  have  proclaimed  their  own  incompetence  to 
rule,  have  made  it  the  more  impossible  for 
British  troops  and  police  to  withdraw  and  leave 
an  intimidated  population  at  the  mercy  of  a 
gang  of  murderers.  They  have  preached  a  war 
upon  England,  a  war  in  which,  as  England  has 
refused  to  recognize  it,  they  must  take  the  offen- 
sive in  their  own  coimtry,  which  must  therefore 
suffer  destruction  at  their  own  hands.  If  Eng- 
land has  not  in  the  past  been  wholly  innocent  of 
offence  to  Ireland,  her  guilt  is  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  the  guilt  of  those  who  have  in  recent 
years  let  loose  every  weapon  of  outrage  upon  their 
unfortunate  compatriots.  It  is  indeed,  in  the 
words  of  the  Prime  Minister,  "  a  hellish  policy," 
and  a  policy  that  can  have  no  shadow  of  justifica- 
tion nor  hope  of  condonation. 

Although  the  outrage  campaign  has  been  in 
operation  for  some  years,  it  will  be  convenient  to 
deal  with  its  manifestations  in  1920  alone,  in 


212      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

order  that  its  relation  to  Irish  administration  in 
that  year  may  be  more  clearly  understood.  It 
was  in  this  year  that  the  number  and  brutality 
of  the  outrages  committed  by  the  Republicans 
reached  their  climax,  as  the  statistics  and 
examples  that  follow  will  indicate. 

For  the  purposes  of  examination,  the  outrages 
committed  under  the  auspices  of  the  Republican 
organisations  may  be  classified  as  follows. 

Attacks  on  members  of  the  police  forces. 

Attacks  on  members  of  the  military  forces. 

Attacks  on  civilians. 

Destruction  of  court-houses. 

Destruction  of  police  barracks. 

Raids  on  mails. 

Raids  on  coast-guard  stations  and  lighthouses. 

Raids  for  arms. 

The  last  two  forms  of  outrage  have  been  dealt 
with  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  there  is  no 
need  to  refer  to  them  again  here. 

We  may  begin  with  an  account  of  attacks  on 
members  of  the  police  forces.  This  heading 
covers  the  ambushing  of  parties  of  police  (a  very 
favourite  form  of  Volunteer  activity),  police 
casualties  sustained  during  raids  upon  barracks 
or  in  the  course  of  riots,  attacks  upon  solitary 
policemen,  and  the  deliberate  murder  of 
particular  members  of  the  police  forces. 

During  the  period  from  the  1st  January,  1920, 
to  1st  January,  1921,  165  members  of  the  police 
forces  have  been  killed,  225  woimded,  and  a  very 
large  number  fired  at  in  attempts  at  murder. 
The  nature  of  these  outrages  can  best  be  demon- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      213 

strated  by  taking  the  records  for  a  given  week, 
and  also  by  describing  certain  particular  cases. 
For  this  purpose,  the  week  from  noon  on  Septem- 
ber 25  to  noon  on  October  2nd  may  be  selected, 
not  because  more  attacks  were  made  on  police 
during  that  week  than  during  any  other,  but 
because  it  was  a  fair  average  week  as  regards 
outrage  on  the  whole. 

During  this  week  6  police  were  killed,  6 
wounded,  and  22  fired  at  without  their  sustaining 
injury.  Two  other  police  died  during  the  week 
from  the  result  of  wounds  previously  received, 
bringing  the  total  police  mortality  up  to  eight. 
Short  details  of  the  killings  and  woundings  are 
as  follows. 

At  9  p.m.  on  25th  September  a  party  of  five 
police  were  fired  upon  in  the  village  of  Broad- 
ford,  in  the  Six-Mile-Bridge  district  of  County 
Clare,  by  a  party  of  armed  men.  Constable 
Brogan  was  shot  dead,  and  Constable  Brennan 
was  seriously  wounded.  The  others  escaped 
injury. 

During  the  afternoon  of  29th  September, 
Constables  Downey  and  O'Keefe  were  shot  dead 
beside  the  police  barrack  in  a  public-house 
at  O'Brien's  Bridge,  County  Clare.  The 
assailants  escaped. 

At  1.30  p.m.  on  29th  September  a  police  patrol 
consisting  of  four  men,  while  returning  from 
Borrisoleigh  to  Goldings  Cross  in  the  Temple- 
more  district  of  County  Tipperary,  was 
ambushed  midway  between  the  two  places.  Two 
of  the  patrol,  Constables  Flood  and  Noonan,  were 


214      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

shot  dead.  Of  the  others,  one  was  wounded  and 
one  escaped  injury.  The  police  returned  the 
fire  but  it  could  not  be  ascertained  whether  the 
assailants  suffered  any  casualties.  The  body  of 
Constable  Flood  was  found  completely  riddled 
beside  a  hedge. 

At  2,20  p.m.  on  29th  September  a  sergeant 
and  six  constables  were  attacked  and  fired  upon 
by  fifty  armed  and  masked  men  near  Waterville, 
in  the  Cahirciveen  district  of  County  Kerry. 
The  police  fought  valiantly,  and  all  escaped  with 
the  exception  of  one  man  who  was  not  very 
severely  wounded.  The  raiders  took  seven 
bicycles,  two  rifles,  and  six  police  capes. 

At  10  p.m.  on  28th  September  Sergeant  Dee 
was  fired  at  in  the  village  of  Drimoleague  in  the 
Bantry  district  of  County  Cork.  He  was 
seriously  wounded,  receiving  five  bullet  wounds 
in  the  body. 

At  5.30  p.m.  on  30th  September  a  motor  lorry 
patrol  was  fired  on  at  Leitrim,  between  Bunadden 
and  Tubbercurry,  County  Sligo.  District 
Inspector  Brady  was  shot  dead  and  Head  Con- 
stable O'Hara  seriously  wounded  in  the  leg. 
Constable  Brown  was  slightly  wounded  in  the 
head.  The  police  returned  the  fire,  with  what 
result  is  not  known. 

Such,  in  the  bald  language  of  the  police 
reports,  is  the  record  of  an  average  week  of 
murder  and  attempted  murder  by  the  Republi- 
cans. In  no  single  case  is  there  any  indication 
of  open  warfare,  the  methods  of  the  assailants 
are  those  of  common  assassins,  cfareful  never  to 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      215 

act  until  they  are  in  overwhelming  numbers  and 
have  covered  their  line  of  retreat.  Fuller 
accounts  of  the  murders  of  policemen  merely 
emphasise  the  cowardly  and  brutal  methods  of 
the  ruffians  who  style  themselves  soldiers  of  the 
Irish  Republic.  Of  these,  three  instances  will 
be  sufficient,  the  murders  of  District  Inspector 
Brady,  mentioned  above,  of  County  Inspector 
Smyth,  and  of  Sergeant  Mulherne. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  report 
(made  on  the  spot)  of  the  ambushing  during 
which  District  Inspector  Brady  was  killed. 

**  I  beg  to  state  that  on  30th  September  Dis- 
trict Inspector  Brady,  Head  Constable  O'Hara 
and  seven  men  from  Tubbercurry  went  to  Sligo 
on  duty  per  motor  lorry  by  direct  road.  They 
left  Sligo  for  their  station  about  4  p.m.  taking  a 
different  route  via  Ballymote. 

'*  When  they  arrived  at  Leitrim,  which  is 
about  2  miles  from  Tubbercurry  on  the  road 
between  Bunadden  and  Tubbercurry,  they  were 
fired  on  with  rifles  from  an  elaborately  prepared 
ambush  behind  loopholed  walls  situated  on 
elevated  ground  on  each  side  of  the  road.  The 
spot  was  a  regular  death-trap  and  afforded  no 
chance  of  success  to  the  police  even  if  they  had 
been  in  a  position  to  dismount  and  attack. 
District  Inspector  Brady  received  three  dreadful 
wounds  in  the  region  of  the  kidneys,  apparently 
caused  by  expanding  buUets.  The  calf  of  Head 
Constable  O'Hara's  right  leg  was  practically 
blown  away  and  the  big  toe  of  his  left  foot 
shattered.     Constable  Brown  received  a  slight 


216      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

superficial  wound  on  the  cheek.  The  lorry  drove 
on,  under  a  heavy  fire,  to  which  the  police  replied 
as  well  as  they  could.  They  could  not  see  their 
cowardly  assailants,  who  were  safely  entrenched 
in  strong  numbers  behind  their  loopholed  walls. 
On  their  arrival  at  Tubbercurry  they  found  the 
telegraph  wires  to  Sligo  had  been  cut,  and  so  a 
party  of  police  from  Tubbercurry  had  to  come 
into  Sligo  by  the  motor  lorry  to  inform  the 
County  Inspector,  arriving  there  at  9.15  p.m. 
D.  I.  Russell  of  Sligo  took  a  party  of  sixteen 
police  from  Sligo,  together  with  D.  I.  Dease 
(who  was  returning  to  Tubbercurry  off  sick- 
leave)  and  a  party  of  ten  soldiers  under  an  officer, 
and  they  all  arrived  at  Tubbercurry  shortly  after 
11  p.m.  D.  I.  Russell  and  Dease  went  into  the 
R.I.C.  Barracks  and  found  that  D.  I.  Brady 
had  died  at  about  8.30  p.m.,  and  his  naked  body 
was  lying  on  the  kitchen  floor  having  just  been 
washed  after  death."  (It  is  a  peculiarly  sad 
feature  of  the  case  that  D.  I.  Brady  was  to  have 
returned  to  his  permanent  station,  Ballymoney, 
County  Antrim,  on  the  next  day).  "  Head 
Constable  O'Hara  was  lying  in  a  room  off  the 
kitchen,  suffering  intense  pain. 

*'An  attempt  to  hold  an  inquest  on  the  body  of 
D.  I.  Brady  yesterday  was  abortive.  Only 
seven  persons  attended.  The  state  of  terrorism 
which  now  prevails  in  the  county  generally 
renders  any  attempt  to  hold  an  inquest  on  a 
murdered  member  of  the  R.I.C.  a  pure  farce  and 
waste  of  time.  The  remains  of  poor  young  D.I. 
Brady  were  carried  through  the  town  of  Tubber- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.     217 

cnnry  yesterday  evening  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
local  police.  No  outsider  had  the  moral  courage 
to  show  any  sympathy  by  joining  in  the  little 
cortege  composed  of  the  forces  of  the  Crown. 
This  ostracism  affects  the  men  of  the  R.I.C.  very 
much.  Living  or  dead  they  are  social  outcasts. 
I  went  to  the  scene  of  the  ambush  with  police  and 
a  few  soldiers  and  made  a  thorough  search  and  as 
much  inquiry  as  time  permitted  of.  There  was 
every  evidence  that  a  large  gang  took  part  in  the 
ambush  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  the  other 
road  by  which  this  lorry  might  have  returned  was 
also  ambushed.  Stone  walls  on  each  side  of  the 
road  had  been  loopholed  and  the  raiders  had 
brought  supplies  of  food  and  drink  judging  by 
the  bottles  and  paper  littered  about.  They  had 
also  made  themselves  temporary  couches  of  straw 
on  which  to  lie.  The  military  officer  who  was 
with  me  says  that  a  person  with  a  good  deal  of 
military  knowledge  must  have  selected  the  spot 
and  had  something  to  do  with  the  loopholing. 
After  the  shooting  a  number  of  men  carrying 
rifles  were  seen  retiring  in  a  southerly  direction, 
so  that  there  is  a  strong  probability  that  Irish 
Volunteers  from  South  Sligo  and  the  localities 
of  Gurteen,  Mullaghmore,  and  the  country  west 
of  Lough  Gara  took  a  part. 

**  The  ambushing  of  small  parties  of  R.I.C. 
now  appears  to  be  a  definite  plan  of  campaign 
of  the  Irish  Volunteers,  who  select  suitable  spots 
and  plaoe  fairly  large  forces  in  them  to  deal  with 
any  forces  of  police  passing  that  way.  A  party 
of  police  passing  through  a  wood  near  Tubber- 


218      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

curry  on  October  1st  were  fired  at  by  a  party 
in  ambush.  So  far,  as  a  result  of  the  activities 
of  the  South  Sligo  Irish  Volunteers,  we  have  had 
one  District  Inspector  and  two  constables 
murdered,  and  one  Head  Constable  and  four 
constables  wounded." 

The  murder  of  Colonel  Smyth  was  an  instance 
of  deliberate  and  cold-blooded  assassination 
carried  out  by  emissaries  of  the  Republicans. 
The  circumstances  that  led  up  to  it  are  worthy 
of  a  short  description,  for  they  form  a  remark- 
able indictment  of  the  methods  of  the  Volunteers. 

On  the  10th  July,  1920,  a  certain  section  of 
the  Irish  Press  published  an  extract  from  the 
*'  Irish  Bulletin  "  (a  multigraphed  sheet  issued 
periodically  by  the  propaganda  department  of 
the  Sinn  Fein  organisation).  The  gist  of  the 
extract  was  that  Colonel  Smyth,  Divisional  Com- 
missioner R.I.C.,  had,  on  the  19th  June,  1920, 
made  an  inflammatory  speech  to  the  men  at  Lis- 
towel  barracks,  in  County  Kerry.  It  was 
alleged  that  the  speech  was  an  incitement  to 
murder,  and  it  was  widely  advertised  as  such  by 
the  Republicans  as  an  example  of  encouragement 
given  by  the  authorities  to  the  police  to  murder 
innocent  Irish  people. 

Colonel  Smyth  gave  a  correct  report  of  the 
speech  which  he  had  made  at  Listowel  on  19th 
June,  which  report  was  subsequently  published 
in  '*  The  Times  "  of  30th  July,  1920.  It  was 
evident  that  the  original  report  of  the  speech,  as 
given  by  the  "  Irish  Bulletin,"  had  been  a  com- 
plete   misrepresentation    of    Colonel     Smyth's 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      219 

actual  words,  and  was  probably  based  upon  the 
verbal  account  of  a  disaffected  constable  who  had 
been  present  on  the  occasion. 

A  month  later,  on  July  17th,  Colonel  Smyth, 
who  had  just  returned  to  Ireland  from  a  three 
days'  visit  to  England,  was  sitting  in  the 
smoking-room  of  the  County  Club  at  Cork  with 
County  Inspector  Craig.  At  10.30  p.m.  a 
number  of  armed  men  forced  their  way  into  the 
Club,  overpowering  the  hall  porter,  and  fourteen 
of  the  party  made  their  way  into  the  smoking- 
room.  One  of  them  pointed  out  Colonel  Smyth, 
who  was  promptly  riddled  with  revolver  bullets 
and  died  within  a  few  seconds.  County  Inspec- 
tor Craig  was  also  wounded. 

Colonel  Smyth  was  one  of  two  gallant 
brothers,  both  of  whom  had  magnificent  war 
records,  and  both  of  whom  had  been  wounded  in 
the  service  of  their  country.  The  second 
brother,  Major  Smyth,  was  shot  dead  on  the  11th 
October  by  assassins  whom  he  was  endeavouring 
to  arrest  in  a  house  in  Drumcondra,  Dublin. 
This  murder  is  described  below. 

There  is  one  feature  in  the  case  of  the  shooting 
of  Sergeant  Mulherne  which  distinguishes  it 
from  many  other  brutal  murders  which  took 
place  during  the  year.  The  unfortunate  man 
was  in  the  act  of  leaving  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  Bandon,  County  Cork,  at  a  few 
minutes  past  eight  in  the  morning  of  25th  July, 
when  he  was  shot  dead  actually  in  the  porch  of 
the  church  by  four  or  five  armed  men  who  had 
been  waiting  for  him.     It  is  noteworthy  that  in 


220       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

this  case  the   Bishop  of   Cork  pronounced   an 
interdict  against  the  murderers.* 

It  must  be  clearly  realised  that  the  cases  cited 
above  are  not  mere  isolated  incidents,  but  are 
chosen  as  representative  of  a  series  of  murders 
which  have  been  carried  out  by  Republicans 
throughout  the  year.  These  cases  illustrate  two 
forms  of  assassination  :  ambush  by  overwhelming 
forces,  and  deliberate  and  carefully  planned 
murder  of  selected  victims.  It  may  be  of  interest 
to  note  that  at  the  time  of  the  murder  of  Colonel 
Smyth,  at  Cork,  Terence  McSwiney,  then  Lord 
Mayor  of  Cork,  was  also  Commandant  of  the 
First  Cork  Brigade  of  the  Irish  Republican 
Army. 

Attacks  upon  members  of  the  military  forces 
were  carried  out  by  much  the  same  methods. 
During  the  period  from  1st  January,  1920,  to 
1st  January,  1921,  53  military  were  killed,  118 
wounded,  and  a  very  large  number  fired  at 
ineffectually.  The  majority  of  these  men  were 
attacked  while  making  arrests  in  the  execution  of 
their  duty,  or  in  the  course  of  ambushes,  or  while 
acting  as  sentries  in  exposed  positions.  An 
example  of  each  of  these  forms  of  attack  will 
sufificiently  illustrate  the  methods  employed. 

During  the  night  of  October  llth-12th,  a  party 
of  troops,  commanded  by  Major  G.  O.  S.  Smyth, 
and  including  Captain  A.  P.  White,  demanded 
admittance  to  a  house  known  as  Fernside,  in 
Drumcondra,   on   the  outskirts  of   Dublin,    the 

*  Bee  the  statement  printed  at  the  end  of  this  chapter 
(page  236). 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      221 

residence  of  Mr.  John  Carolan,  with  the  object 
of  arresting  a  suspected  person  said  to  be  lodging 
there.  Entry  to  the  house  was  not  opposed,  and 
the  ordinary  room-to-room  search  proceeded 
normally  until  the  top  floor  was  reached.  As 
Major  Smyth  entered  a  room  on  this  floor,  he  was 
shot  at  point-blank  range  while  opening  the  door, 
and  fell  dead.  A  hail  of  fire  was  then  opened 
from  the  room  down  the  narrow  passage  outside, 
and  Captain  White,  who  had  dashed  to  Major 
Smyth's  assistance,  was  so  severely  wounded  that 
he  died  shortly  after.  Corporal  Worth,  who  was 
on  the  stairs,  was  also  seriously  wounded.  The 
remaining  members  of  the  party,  assisted  by  Mr. 
Carolan,  the  owner  of  the  house,  made  a  gallant 
attempt  to  enter  the  room,  in  the  course  of  which 
Mr.  Carolan  was  seriously  wounded.  Two  of 
the  party  who  had  been  guarding  the  rear  of  the 
house  rushed  into  the  building  when  they  heard 
the  firing.  During  their  absence  the  assassins 
are  believed  to  have  jumped  from  the  window  of 
their  room  on  to  the  roof  of  a  glass-house  in  the 
garden,  and  so  to  have  made  their  escape. 

At  6-15  p.m.  on  20th  July,  1920,  a  military 
lorry  going  from  Macroom  to  Ballyvourney,  in 
County  Cork,  was  ambushed  by  a  party  of  armed 
men  who  fired  two  volleys  into  the  lorry  while  it 
was  passing  between  high  banks  which  overhung 
both  sides  of  the  road.  All  the  members  of  the 
military  party,  together  with  a  naval  wireless 
operator,  were  wounded,  more  or  less  severely. 
Captain  Airey  subsequently  died  from  the  effects 
of  his  wounds. 


222      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

The  Volunteers,  however,  did  not  always  find 
the  ambushing  of  troops  a  profitable  occupation, 
as  the  following  account  shows  : — 

At  about  a  quarter  to  four  in  the  afternoon  of 
8th  September,  1920,  a  military  lorry  carrying 
an  officer  and  a  party  of  eight  men  of  the  Essex 
Regiment  was  travelling  along  the  road  from 
Ballineen  to  Dunmanway,  County  Cork,  when 
the  officer  in  charge  noticed  a  band  of  about 
twenty  men  collected  on  the  road  some  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  ahead.  When  these  men  saw 
the  lorry  they  jumped  into  the  ditches  that  border 
the  road.  The  lorry  prepared  for  action,  and 
drove  slowly  on.  When  it  reached  the  point 
where  the  band  had  first  been  observed,  the 
members  of  the  latter  were  seen  with  arms  in 
their  hands  running  for  the  cover  of  a  wood 
near  by.  Half  of  the  military  party  gave  chase, 
and  were  promptly  fired  on,  but  without  effect. 
They  returned  the  fire  and  wounded  two  of  their 
assailants.  The  other  half  of  the  party  remained 
to  guard  the  lorry.  They,  too,  were  fired  upon 
by  about  thirty  men  and  returned  the  fire. 

Although  in  such  overwhelming  numbers,  the 
attackers  thought  better  of  the  matter,  and 
decamped.  On  the  scene  of  the  ambush,  and 
about  five  yards  from  the  road,  a  man,  John 
Murray,  was  found  lying  in  the  gorse.  He 
stated  that  he  was  told  to  lie  there  till  he  saw 
the  lorry  and  then  to  give  a  signal.  He  was 
searched,  but  no  arms  were  found  on  him,  and  in 
order  to  keep  him  out  of  mischief  he  was 
subsequently  removed  to  the  local  workhouse.  On 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      223 

22nd  of  September  he  was  tried  by  Court  Martial 
at  Cork  and  acquitted. 

Just  previous  to  the  firing,  another  man, 
riding  a  skewbald  horse,  was  seen  about  the  spot. 
He  saluted  the  officer  in  charge,  but  subsequently, 
when  the  latter  was  climbing  the  hedge  to  begin 
his  pursuit  of  the  raiders,  he  fired  two  revolver 
shots  at  him  and  rode  away. 

A  fair  was  going  on  in  the  village  of  Ballineen 
at  the  time,  and  this  gave  the  attackers  the 
opportunity  of  concentrating  unobserved.  The 
site  of  the  attack  is  particularly  adapted  to  the 
purpose  of  an  ambush,  there  being  a  hedge  and  a 
deep  ditch  on  either  side  of  the  road,  which  is 
flariced  by  heavy  undergrowth  and  a  wood. 

As  an  example  of  the  murder  of  a  soldier  on 
patrol  that  of  Lance- Corporal  Maddox,  who  was 
shot  dead  at  Bandon,  County  Cork,  at  12-30 
a.m.  on  27th  July,  1920,  may  be  mentioned. 

Attacks  upon  civilians  by  the  Republicans  are 
usually  in  the  nature  of  murders  of  marked 
men  whom  the  various  organizations  consider 
dangerous,  or  of  persons  whom  they  suspect  of 
informing  or  of  betraying  their  secrets.  During 
the  period  from  1st  January,  1920,  to  1st 
January,  1921,  43  civilians  were  murdered,  and 
103  wounded.  The  most  sensational  murders  of 
marked  men  were  those  of  Messrs.  Alan  Bell  and 
Frank  Brooke  and  of  Captain  Lendrum. 

Mr.  Alan  Bell  was  a  Resident  Magistrate,  and 
during  March,  1920,  he  was  engaged  in  Dublin 
upon  investigations  into  the  relations  between 
certain     Irish     Banks     and     the     Sinn     Fein 


224      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

organizations.  At  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  March  26th,  1920,  he  boarded  a  tram 
at  Monkstown  on  the  outskirts  of  Dublin  in  order 
to  proceed  from  his  home  to  his  office  in  Dublin 
Castle.  When  the  tram  reached  a  stopping  place 
at  the  end  of  Sandymount  Avenue,  a  party  of 
about  half  a  dozen  men,  who  had  evidently  been 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  car  on  which  Mr. 
Bell  was  travelling,  boarded  the  car.  Two  of 
them  stepped  up  to  their  victim  and  tapped  him 
on  the  shoulder,  saying  "  Come  on,  Mr.  Bell, 
your  time  has  come."  They  then  dragged  him 
from  the  car  on  to  the  footpath  beside  the  road, 
and  shot  him  dead  with  their  revolvers. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  this  affair  todc 
place  actually  in  Dublin  itself  during  one  of  the 
busiest  periods  of  the  day,  when  the  inhabitants 
of  the  suburbs  were  coming  into  the  City  to  their 
work;  and  the  fact  that  no  attempt  was  made 
by  any  of  the  onlookers  to  prevent  the  crime  or  to 
impede  the  escape  of  the  murderers  is  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  reign  of  terror  established  by 
the  Republicans  even  in  the  capital  of  the 
country. 

The  case  of  Mr.  Brooke  was  very  curious.  The 
Right  Honourable  Frank  Brooke,  D.L.,  was 
chairman  of  the  Dublin  and  South  Eastern 
Railway  Company.  He  was  an  Irish  Privy 
Councillor,  and  a  member  of  Lord  French's 
Advisory  Committee.  For  some  time  previous 
to  his  murder  he  had  received  a  series  of 
threatening  letters,  and  he  was  under  constant 
police  protection.     At  12-30  p.m.  on  July  30th, 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      225 

1920,  he  was  seated  in  his  office  at  Westland  Row 
Station,  Dublin,  when  a  small  band  of  armed 
men  burst  in  and  shot  him  dead.  The  motives 
for  the  deed  are  obscure,  but  it  is  probable  that 
the  part  he  had  played  in  the  railway  dispute 
was  responsible  for  the  murder.  The  verdict  of 
the  Coroner's  jury  on  the  affair  is  interesting. 
It  is  as  follows  :  "  Francis  H.  Brooke  died  on  the 
30th  of  July,  1920,  from  shock  and  haemorrhage 
caused  by  bullets  fired  from  a  revolver  by  persons 
unknown.  We  consider  this  a  premeditated 
wilful  murder  and  we  express  our  abhorrence  of 
the  crime  and  tender  our  sincere  sympathy  with 
the  family  and  friends  of  the  deceased." 

Captain  Lendrum,  a  Resident  Magistrate  for 
County  Clare,  was  ambushed  on  22nd  September 
while  motoring  from  Ennistymon  to  Ennis,  in 
County  Clare.  Nothing  more  was  heard  of  him, 
and  the  local  police  threatened  reprisals  unless 
news  of  him  was  forthcoming.  Some  days  later 
two  men  interviewed  the  District  Inspector  and 
informed  him  that  Captain  Lendrum  had  been 
shot  dead  at  the  time  of  his  ambush  on  the  22nd, 
but  that  the  Republicans  would  give  up  his  body 
if  the  police  were  withheld  from  the  threatened 
reprisals  for  a  period  sufficient  to  enable  them  to 
obtain  the  body,  as  **  at  present  there  were 
difficulties  in  the  way."  The  informants  stated 
to  the  District  Inspector  that  they  were  compelled 
to  deliver  the  information  under  a  threat  from 
the  Irish  Volunteers.  Information  was  received 
at  10  a.m.  on  1st  October,  1920,  that  a  coffin  had 
been  seen  on  the  railway  line  at  Kilmurray,  and 

p 


226      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  police  on  proceeding  to  that  place  found  the 
body,  which  bore  traces  of  immersion  in  sea- 
water,  and  was  wrapped  in  a  sheet  enclosed  in  a 
rudely-constructed  coffin  of  white  wood.  On  the 
lid  of  the  coffin  was  pencilled  in  capital  letters 
"  To  Kilkee."  The  fact  of  the  body  showing 
signs  of  having  been  in  the  sea  for  some  days 
would  account  for  the  **  difficulty  in  the  way  " 
referred  to  by  the  informers. 

The  following  is  one  out  of  the  many  instances 
of  the  murders  of  men  suspected  by  the 
Republicans  of  having  betrayed  them  : — 

On  the  evening  of  21st  September,  1920,  the 
body  of  an  unknown  man  with  a  bullet  wound 
in  the  head  was  found  in  a  field  of  corn  at 
Knockroe,  in  the  Bagenalstovm  district  of 
County  Car  low.  A  label  was  attached  to  the 
man's  clothing,  bearing  the  words  "  Spies  and 
Informers  Beware!  " 

We  may  now  turn  from  the  consideration  of 
outrages  upon  the  person  to  outrages  upon 
property.  It  has  long  been  part  of  the  policy  of 
the  Republicans  to  destroy  Government  property 
whenever  possible,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the 
results  of  such  destruction  must  inevitably  be 
borne  by  their  own  country,  and  would  be  most 
severely  felt  by  themselves  if  they  succeeded  in 
forming  the  Republic  they  desire. 

The  first  heading  under  this  description  of 
outrage  is  the  destruction  of  court  houses.  These 
establishments  besides  being  the  centres  of 
justice  usually  contain  the  records  of  the  district 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      227 

and  such  public  property  as  standard  weights 
and  measures.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that  criminals 
such  as  those  forming  the  ranks  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Army  would  regard  the  destruction 
of  court  houses  with  special  delight,  and  it  is 
quite  possible  that  certain  sections  of  the  general 
populace  would  hesitate  to  interfere  with  them. 

During  the  period  from  January  1st,  1920,  to 
January  1st,  1921,  68  court  houses  were 
destroyed,  mostly  by  the  simple  expedient  of 
burning  them  down.  Three  of  these  destructions 
took  place  during  the  week  from  28th  August  to 
4th  September,  1920,  and  the  extracts  from  the 
police  reports  for  this  week  will  illustrate  them. 

In  the  morning  of  August  31st,  1920,  the 
court  house  and  vacated  R.I.C.  barracks  at 
Celbridge,  County  Kildare,  were  maliciously 
destroyed  by  fire. 

At  1  a.m.  on  September  3rd,  1920,  the  court 
house  at  Ballinamore,  County  Leitrim,  was  set 
on  fire  and  completely  destroyed. 

At  3  a.m.  on  4th  September,  1920,  the  court 
house  and  vacated  R.I.C.  barracks  at  Mount- 
mellick,  Queen's  County,  were  maliciously 
burned  down. 

Another  example,  showing  the  destruction  of 
records,  is  as  follows  : — 

During  the  morning  of  23rd  August,  1920,  a 
party  of  men  attacked  Collooney  court  house,  in 
the  Ballymote  district  of  County  Sligo.  They 
broke  up  the  furniture  and  burned  it,  together 
with  the  statutes  and  books. 

Of  perhaps  more  importance  is  the  organised 


228      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

campaign  of  destruction  of  police  barracks.  It 
was  found,  soon  after  the  inauguration  of  the 
outrage  campaign,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the 
police  to  defend  themselves  when  they  were 
scattered  in  small  parties  all  over  the  country. 
A  policy  was  therefore  put  into  operation  by 
which  the  police  were  withdrawn  from  outlying 
stations  and  concentrated  at  the  larger  and  more 
important  centres,  the  vacated  barracks  being 
thus  left  unoccupied.  The  Republican  reply  to 
this  policy  was  to  begin  a  campaign  of  systematic 
burning  of  vacated  barracks,  while  at  the  same 
time  organizing  attacks  upon  such  occupied 
barracks  as  they  felt  strong  enough  to  capture 
without  much  risk. 

During  the  period  between  1st  January,  1920, 
and  1st  January,  1921,  507  vacated  barracks 
were  destroyed  and  114  damaged,  mostly  by 
parties  of  armed  and  masked  men  who  were  able 
to  burn  them  down  without  much  fear,  of 
interruption.  But  it  frequently  happened  that 
the  Volunteers  did  not  have  things  all  their 
own  way.  On  more  than  one  occasion  the 
vacated  barracks  were  kept  under  observation, 
and  the  destruction  parties  were  routed  with 
considerable  loss  as  soon  as  they  started  their 
operations. 

The  figures  of  the  destruction  of  occupied 
barracks  tell  a  very  different  tale.  During  the 
period  from  1st  of  January,  1920  to  1st  January, 
1921,  23  occupied  barracks  were  destroyed  and 
49  damaged.  The  story  is  always  much  the 
same  :  an  overwhelming  force  of  raiders  arrives 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      229 

upon  the  scene  armed  and  equipped  with 
combustibles,  and  proceeds  to  lay  regular  siege 
to  the  threatened  barracks.  A  few  results  of 
successful  resistances  are  as  follows  : — 

At  1-45  a.m.  on  13th  August,  1920,  Castle- 
bald  win  R.I.C.  barracks  were  attacked  by  a  large 
party  of  armed  men.  The  police  garrison 
returned  their  fire,  and  after  three  quarters  of 
an  hour  of  ineffectual  firing  the  attackers  with- 
drew.   None  of  the  police  was  injured. 

Perhaps  the  best  example  is  contained  in  the 
reports  on  a  series  of  attacks  delivered  within  a 
five  mile  radius  in  Coimty  Donegal  early  in  the 
morning  of  the  30th  August,  1920.  The  brief 
reports  speak  for  themselves. 

At  1  a.m.  on  August  30th  Bally  shannon 
R.I.C.  barracks  were  attacked  by  a  large  party 
of  armed  men.  The  attackers  were  driven  off 
without  loss  to  the  garrison. 

At  1-50  a.m.  on  30th  August  Bundoran  R.I.C. 
barracks  were  attacked  by  armed  raiders  for  an 
hour.  The  attackers  were  driven  off  without  loss 
to  the  garrison. 

In  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  of  30th 
August  Donegal  R.I.C.  barracks  were  attacked 
by  a  large  party  of  armed  men.  The  attackers 
were  repelled.    None  of  the  police  was  injured. 

Surely  this  night's  work  bears  out  the  acid 
comment  in  AnT'Oglac  of  June,  1920,  that  "  no 
fortified  place  was  ever  taken  by  firing  rifle 
shots  at  it  from  a  distance  1  ' ' 

An  instance  of  the  success  of  the  Volunteers 


230      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

against  an  occupied  barracks  is  contained  in  a 
report  as  follows  : — 

At  10  a.m.  on  5th  September,  1920,  a  party  of 
armed  men  disguised  as  soldiers  entered  the 
police  barracks  in  Bellah,  County  Fermanagh. 
Having  gained  entry  through  their  disguise,  they 
overpowered  the  occupants  and  seized  all  the 
arms  and  ammunition  they  could  find.  The 
barracks  were  then  set  on  fire  and  destroyed. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  case  of  attacks 
upon  occupied  barracks,  the  balance  of  advantage 
rests  upon  the  side  of  the  police,  whose  heroic 
defence  of  their  stations  against  overwhelming 
numbers  would  in  itself  make  a  chapter  of 
history. 

We  now  come  to  a  form  of  outrage  which 
became  extremely  prevalent  throughout  the  year, 
namely,  raids  upon  mails.  These  raids  appeared 
to  be  undertaken  by  the  Volunteers  on  behalf  of 
their  intelligence  service.  By  examination  of  the 
mails  and  the  removal  of  official  correspondence 
they  hoped  to  discover  the  counter-measures  taken 
by  the  authorities  to  deal  with  the  campaign  of 
outrage.  Further  than  this,  they  hoped  to  obtain 
evidence  of  local  feeling,  to  discover  possible 
informers  and  the  sentiments  of  the  population. 
Their  methods  varied  from  the  holding  up  of 
trains  to  the  stopping  of  solitary  postmen.  It  is 
obviously  impossible  to  provide  armed  escorts  for 
every  man  or  vehicle  carrying  the  mails,  and  in 
a  country  like  Ireland,  abounding  in  spots 
favourable  to  ambush,  there  is  no  possibility  of 
guarding  against  a  wholesale  campaign  of  mail- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      231 

raiding.  During  the  period  from  let  January, 
1920,  to  1st  January,  1921,  there  were  998  raids 
on  mails  of  various  kinds,  of  which  typical 
examples  are  as  follows  : — 

At  7-10  a.m.  on  July  15th,  1920,  about  twenty- 
two  armed  men  entered  the  sorting  and  mails 
department  of  the  Dublin  General  Post  Office*  at 
the  Rotunda  Rink.  They  held  up  all  the 
officials  and  took  away  the  following  bags  of 
correspondence  :  a  bag  for  the  Secretary,  G.P.O., 
several  bundles  of  letters  for  the  Accountant, 
G.P.O.,  a  pouch  for  the  Registrar-General,  a 
sorting  box  for  the  Engineer,  G.P.O.,  a  bag  for 
the  Local  Government  Board,  a  bag  for  the 
Surveyor  of  Taxes,  a  bag  for  the  Under 
Secretary's  office,  two  bundles  containing  about 
fifty  letters  for  the  R.I.C.,  about  a  hundred 
miscellaneous  letters  for  Dublin  Castle,  eighty 
letters  for  the  Vice-Regal  Lodge,  a  bag  for  the 
General  Prisons  Board,  and  a  bag  for  the 
Cashier  Irish  Command. 

Three  men  carried  the  letters  and  bags  to  a 
motor-car  which  was  in  waiting  at  the  western 
side  of  the  Square  outside  the  office.  A  large 
bag  containing  the  correspondence  for  the  R.I.C. 
was  lying  o.n  the  floor  partly  under  a  table  in  the 
State  Letter  Department  and  was  apparently 
unnoticed  by  the  raiders,  who  remained  twelve 
minutes  in  the  building,  leaving  at  7-22  a.m.  on 
a  signal  given  by  their  leader,  who  blew  a  whistle. 

♦The  G. P.O. -building  in  Dublin  was  burnt  out  during  the 
Easter  Week  Rebellion,  1916.  Since  then  the  various  poBtal 
serviceB  of  the  City  have  been  carried  out  in  various 
temporary  ofBces. 


232      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

He  was  the  last  to  leave  the  premises,  and 
counted  off  his  men  as  they  left.  The  premises 
are  entered  by  gates  at  the  eastern  and  western 
sides  of  the  Rotunda,  and  the  raid  was  carried 
out  simultaneously  at  each  side,  the  raiders 
driving  the  officials  before  them  into  the  centre 
of  the  building  at  the  point  of  their  revolvers. 
When  the  raiders  entered  they  immediately  took 
possession  of  the  telephones  and  emergency 
switches  in  the  building  and  so  prevented  any 
information  being  conveyed  until  the  raid  was 
completed.  The  superintendent  was  at  his 
post  and  immediately  the  raiders  had  left  he 
telephoned  to  the  police.  At  the  time  of  the  raid 
there  were  in  all  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
officials,  including  postmen  and  overseers,  on  the 
premises. 

Examples  of  other  forms  of  raids  on  mails  are 
as  follows : — 

At  7  a.m.  on  10th  September  a  rural  postman 
from  Monaghan  to  a  neighbouring  village  was 
held  up  about  three  miles  from  Monaghan  by  a 
masked  and  armed  man,  and  £47  in  old-age 
pension  money  was  taken  from  him. 

This  form  of  robbery  is  extremely  common. 
It  shows  that  the  Republicans  make  war,  not  like 
the  highwaymen  of  old,  upon  the  richer  classes, 
but  upon  rich  and  poor  alike. 

At  10-30  a.m.  on  13th  October,  1920,  the  mail- 
car  from  Tipperary  to  Limerick  Junction, 
conveying  the  general  night  mail,  was  held  up  at 
Bohercrowe  in  the  Tipperary  district  by  armed 
and  masked  men,  and  the  contents  of  the  mail- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      233 

car,  sixteen  bags,  were  taken.  On  the  morning 
of  the  14th  the  mailbags  were  found  by  a  postman 
with  their  seals  broken  about  half  a  mile  from 
the  scene  of  the  raid.  The  letters  were  all  open 
and  mixed  up,  and  five  registered  letters  were 
missing. 

On  30th  August  the  4-45  p.m.  train  from 
Mountmellick,  Queen's  County,  was  held  up  by 
four  armed  and  masked  men  one  mile  outside  the 
town.  Four  mail-bags  were  rifled  and  two  taken. 
The  passengers'  luggage  was  also  searched  and 
some  of  it  taken. 

Instances  of  mail  robberies  might  be  multiplied 
indefinitely,  but  enough  has  been  said  to  enable 
the  position  to  be  realised.  So  serious  did  it 
become  that  on  12th  October,  1920,  the  Irish 
Grovernment  issued  the  following  statement : — 

"The  Government  has  had  under  consideration 
the  constantly  repeated  attacks  upon  post  offices 
and  mails  imder  conveyance  in  Ireland,  and  the 
threatening  letters  which  have  been  addressed  to 
individual  post  office  servants  in  connection  with 
the  performance  of  their  duty.  As  these  attacks 
render  it  impossible  for  the  Post  Office  to  fulfil 
its  obligations  to  safeguard  the  secrecy  of  the 
correspondence  committed  to  its  care,  the 
Government  feels  bound  to  issue  a  clear  warning 
to  the  public  whose  letters  are  liable  to  loss  or 
violation  to  an  even  greater  extent  than  those  of 
the  Government  (seeing  that  the  more  important 
Government  mails  do  not  go  through  the  post), 
that,  if  the  practices  above  referred  to  are  not 
discontinued,  postal  services  will  be  curtailed,  or 


234      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

even    altogether    withdrawn,    in    the    districts 
affected." 

Other  forms  of  outrage  which  are  not  included 
under  the  classification  on  page  212  have  occurred 
in  great  numbers,  but  these  can  only  be  very 
briefly  referred  to  on  account  of  lack  of  space. 
For  instance,  during  the  months  of  April  and 
May,  1920,  119  raids  were  made  on  Revenue 
Offices,  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  many 
official  documents  and  much  other  public 
property.  A  word  must  also  be  said  upon  the 
subject  of  Republican  war  upon  women.  In 
pursuance  of  their  policy  of  boycott  against  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown,  the  Volunteers  make  a 
practice  of  attacking  those  who  are  seen  speaking 
to  members  of  these  forces.  In  the  case  of  women, 
the  favourite  pimishment  is  the  cropping  of  their 
hair.  Instances  where  this  has  occurred  are  as 
follows : — 

At  8-45  p.m.  on  31st  July,  1920,  when  two 
soldiers  and  two  girls  were  out  walking  near 
Navan,  Co.  Meath,  four  men  presented  revolvers 
at  them,  knocked  down  the  girls,  and  cut  off  their 
hair. 

At  11  p.m.  on  29th  September,  when  Bridget 
Wynne  and  Lily  Colburn,  resident  in  the  Birr 
district,  were  returning  to  their  homes  at 
Banagher,  King's  County,  accompanied  by  two 
soldiers  of  the  Somerset  Light  Infantry  they  were 
set  upon  by  a  party  of  armed  and  disguised  men, 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  in  number,  and  their  hair 
cut  off. 

At  12-30  a.m.  on  5th  October,  1920,  the  house 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  OUTRAGE.      235 

of  John  Kean,  at  Shaurahan,  in  the  Cahir 
district  of  County  Tipperary,  was  entered  by 
three  masked  and  armed  men  who  cropped  his 
daughter's  hair. 

Other  brutal  outrages  upon  women  are 
common.    The  following  is  a  good  example  : — 

At  10-30  p.m.  on  14th  September,  1920,  a 
barrack  servant,  sixty  years  of  age,  was  taken 
from  her  lodgings  in  a  village  in  County  Donegal 
by  armed  and  masked  men.  They  gagged  her 
and  took  her  to  a  field  nearby,  where  she  was 
kicked  in  the  body  and  her  hair  cut  off. 

Finally  we  may  give  an  example  of  a  type  of 
outrage  which  sufficiently  exhibits  the  mentality 
of  the  perpetrators. 

On  the  morning  of  the  28th  September,  1920,  a 
donkey,  the  property  of  Anne  McEvoy,  of 
Portarlington,  Queen's  County,  was  stabbed  in 
the  forehead  by  a  masked  man.  The  animal  had 
been  employed  in  carting  turf  for  the  police. 


A  statement  showing  cases  of  police  shot  or 
attacked  on  their  way  to  or  from  their  churches, 
and  cases  where  the  absence  of  police  at  Mass  has 
been  taken  advantage  of  to  attack  barracks. 
County,  Cork.     District,  Ballincollig. 

When  Constables  Michael  Sweeney  and 
Michael  Walsh  were  leaving  Berrings 
Chapel  on  28th  September,  1919,  they  were 
attacked  by  a  party  of  12  men,  knocked 
down,  and  kicked.  Two  shots  were  fired  at 
Constable   Sweeney,    passing   through    hia 


236      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

body  at  the  upper  portion  of  his  lung.     The 
other  lodged  in  his  body. 

County,  Tipperary.      District,  Nenagh. 

Constables  Jas.  Rock  and  C.  Healy, 
Toomevara,  were  murdered  on  16th 
March,  1920,  when  returning  from  evening 
devotions. 

County,  Clare.      District,  Kilrush. 

Sergeant  P.  J.  Carroll  murdered  and 
Constable  Collins  seriously  wounded  on  18th 
April,  1920,  when  returning  from  Mass  at 
Kilmihill. 

County,  Cork.     District,  Fermoy. 

On  24th  April,  1920,  Arraglen  Barrack 
was  raided  by  a  party  of  12  armed  men  while 
the  party  (with  the  exception  of  the  B.O.) 
was  at  Divine  Service.  They  overpowered 
the  B.O.  after  he  had  twice  fired,  wolinding 
one.  They  blindfolded  and  bound  him, 
placed  him  in  the  lock-up,  and  took  away 
all  arms  and  ammunition,  also  the  official 
books. 

County,  Cork.     District,  Bandon. 

On  25th  July,  1920,  Sergeant  Mulherne, 
R.I.C.,  entering  the  R.C.  Chapel  in  Bandon 
was  murdered  in  the  porch  of  the  chapel. 

County,  Cork.      District,  Bandon. 

When  Constable  Walsh,  Mountpleasant, 
was  going  to  Mass  on  2nd  May,  1920,  he  was 
fired  at,  the  bullet  grazing  his  back.  He 
was  also  struck  by  some  shots  on  the  face. 

County,  Cork,     District,  Youghal. 

Head   Constable   Ruddock   was   fired   at 


THE   CAMPAGN   OF   OUTRAGE.      237 

and  wounded  when  returning  from  Divine 
Service  on  1st  August,  1920,  at  Youghal. 

County,  Fermanagh.      District,  Kesh. 

A  party  of  armed  men  dressed  in  soldiers' 
uniform,  in  motor  cars,  entered  the  R.I.C. 
Barracks,  Belleek,  at  10-15  a.m.  on  5th 
September,  1920.  They  overpowered  the 
occupants  and  seized  the  arms  and 
ammunition.  Some  of  the  police  were  at 
Divine  Service,  and  the  raiders  locked  the 
church  door  to  prevent  them  coming  to  the 
assistance  of  their  comrades.  The  raiders 
also  burned  the  barracks. 

County,  Meath.      District,  Trim. 

At  about  9  a.m.  on  26th  September,  1920, 
Trim  R.I.C.  Barracks  was  rushed  by  a  party 
of  masked  and  armed  men,  during  the 
absence  of  five  of  the  garrison  at  Divine 
Service.  They  wounded  the  Head  Constable, 
took  all  the  arms  and  ammunition,  and 
burned  the  barracks. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    TROOPS     IN    IRELAND    AND    THE    RAILWAY 
SITUATION. 

Republican  sympathisers  in  Ireland  habitually 
refer  to  the  troops  stationed  in  Ireland  as  an 
Army  of  Occupation,  as  though  the  duties  of 
these  troops  were  to  keep  in  subjection  a  hostile 
populace.  A  single  fact  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  the  British  Military  forces  in  Ireland  are  in 
no  sense  an  Army  of  Occupation — the  fact  that 
that  country  is  not  administered  by  martial  law. 
That  martial  law  has  been  proclaimed  at 
different  times  in  eight  counties  to  deal  with 
temporary  situations  in  no  way  alters  the  main 
fact.  British  troops  are  maintained  in  Ireland 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  assisting  the  police  to 
maintain  law  and  order,  and  they  can  act  in 
political  matters  only  at  the  request  of  the  police 
authorities. 

In  a  statement  issued  to  the  press  by  the 
Irish  Government  in  July,  1920,  the  facts  were 
set  out  as  follows  : — 

"  British  troops  are  now  stationed  in  Ireland 
in  greater  strength  than  is  usual  in  time  of  peace 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  assisting  the  Civil  Power 
in  maintaining  law  and  order,  and  in  defence  of 


RAILWAY   SITUATION.  239 

Ireland  and  the  Irish.  The  policy  of  the  Irish 
extremists  has  been  shown  to  be  one  of  destruction 
of  life  and  property,  and  it  is  obvious  that 
whatever  may  be  the  future  of  the  country  the 
burden  of  this  destruction  must  fall  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  Irish  nation.  It  is  in  order  to 
check  the  ravages  of  the  extremists  that  troops 
are  required  in  augmentation  of  the  police  forces. 
The  military  in  Ireland  are  in  no  sense  an  Army 
of  Occupation;  military  law  has  not  been 
proclaimed,  and  the  mere  presence  of  the  troops 
has  been  found  to  act  as  a  check  upon  the 
campaign  of  outrage. 

"  That  the  intervention  of  armed  forces  is 
welcomed  by  the  responsible  body  of  Irish 
opinion  has  been  proved  abundantly.  Their 
assistance  was  recently  invoked  by  the  authorities 
of  Londonderry,  and  their  presence  on  that 
occasion  undoubtedly  helped  in  preventing  the 
development  of  a  still  more  serious  situation. 
The  military  precautions  taken  last  week  were 
approved  by  both  Nationalists  and  Unionists  in 
Ulster,  and  it  is  probable  that  these  precautions 
influenced  the  marked  lack  of  disorder  that 
accompanied  the  celebrations  of  July  12th. 

**  Finally,  it  would  be  impossible,  by  with- 
drawing British  troops  from  Ireland,  to  leave 
the  law-abiding  majority  of  that  country  and  the 
peaceful  agents  of  civil  government  at  the  mercy 
of  the  forces  of  disorder,  or  to  remove  the  sole 
agency  capable  of  keeping  the  peace  between 
rival  sections  of  the  community." 

This  statement  sets  out  the  position  of  the 


240      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

British  Army  in  Ireland,  and  the  reasons  for  its 
presence.  It  must  be  remembered,  also,  that 
Ireland  has  always  been  a  training  ground  for 
British  troops,  and 'that  consequently  the  mere 
fact  of  troops  being  in  Ireland  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  political  situation.  The  number  of 
troops  in  the  country  has  necessarily  been 
increased,  in  order  to  cope  with  the  activities  of 
the  Republicans.  These  troops,  composed  mainly 
of  young  soldiers,  have  behaved,  under  conditions 
of  extreme  difficulty,  in  a  manner  that  must 
compel  the  admiration  of  the  civilized  world. 

Their  position  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  which  was  described 
in  the  previous  chapter.  They  are,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  living  in  a  hostile  country,  without 
the  advantage  of  being  confronted  by  a  visible 
enemy  from  whom  they  can  seek  vengeance  for 
injuries  sustained.  Their  duties  are  perhaps 
more  arduous  than  those  occasioned  by  active 
warfare.  They  are  called  upon  to  furnish  a 
constant  succession  of  guards,  patrols,  and  search 
parties,  and  when  their  tour  of  duty  is  over  they 
are  compelled  to  spend  the  greater  part  of  their 
leisure  in  barracks.  There  is  no  single  minute  of 
the  day  or  night  in  which  they  can  relax  their 
vigilance.  They  may  at  any  moment  be  attacked 
by  overwhelming  numbers,  their  barracks  may  be 
stormed,  each  individual  may  be  waylaid  and 
shot  without  warning. 

Nor  do  the  actions  of  the  Republicans  cease  at 
murder  and  bodily  injury.  Soldiers  are  insulted 
every  day  in  a  thousand  different  ways.    Every 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  241 

effort  is  made  by  the  Republicans  to  prevent  them 
from  associating  with  the  Irish  population. 
They  are  treated  as  pariahs  and  outcasts  in  the 
country  which  it  is  their  duty  to  defend.  As  a 
consequence  they  dislike  their  surroimdings,  are 
forced  to  regard  the  Irish  as  their  enemies,  and 
long  for  an  opportunity  of  retaliation  upon  them 
by  legitimate  means. 

Yet  in  spite  of  this  provocation,  they  have 
maintained  the  traditions  of  the  British  Army, 
have  proved  their  steadiness  and  their  discipline, 
and  with  it  all  have  kept  up  that  wonderful 
cheerfulness  and  spirit  which  were  the 
admiration  of  the  world  throughout  the  War. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  troops  are 
popular  with  the  Irish  population  where  the 
latter  are  not  under  the  influence  of  Republican 
terrorism,  that  in  the  more  law-abiding  parts  of 
the  country  they  are  welcomed  and  treated  as 
honoured  visitors.  But  it  is  of  course  in  the 
disturbed  areas  that  their  qualities  of  discipline 
have  had  the  greatest  chance  of  being  displayed. 
In  Cork  City,  for  instance,  the  troops  have 
suffered  every  possible  form  of  outrage  and 
insult.  It  might  well  be  imagined  that  their 
self-restraint  would  have  succumbed  to  the 
provocation  they  have  received,  that  they  would 
have  seized  the  first  opportunity  of  wreaking 
their  vengeance  on  their  cowardly  assailants. 
Yet  the  incident  of  the  attack  on  General  Strick- 
land on  24th  September,  1920,  revealed  a  state  of 
discipline  almost  unparalleled.  The  Chief 
Secretary  referred  to  the  incident  in  the  House  of 


242      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Commons  on  20th  October,  1920,  in  the  following 
words : — 

"  The  other  day  in  Cork,  General  Strickland, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  Commanders  of  the 
late  War,  was  motoring  through  the  streets.  He 
was  ambushed,  many  shots  were  fired  at  him,  and 
some  pierced  his  car,  but  he  came  through  the 
fusilade  owing  to  the  courage  of  his  driver.  He 
commands,  let  us  say,  ten  thousand  troops  in  the 
Cork  area.  He  drove  at  once  to  his  headquarters 
in  his  car,  and  he  issued  the  most  drastic 
commands  that  every  man  in  his  command  should 
fall  in,  including  officers.  Why?  Because  he 
did  not  want  any  reprisals  in  that  force  of  his, 
and  there  was  not  a  sign  or  a  suspicion  of 
reprisal.  ...  I  want  to  point  out  to  this 
House  what  a  strong  discipline  there  must  be 
in  an  army  that  will  allow  its  popular  and 
distinguished  general  to  be  ambushed,  to  be  shot 
at  by  assassins,  and  yet  not  strike  back.  No 
other  army  under  any  other  flag  in  the 
world  can  boast,  and  rightly  boast,  of  such  stern 
discipline.  This  is  only  one  out  of  many  instances 
of  the  exercise  of  a  restraint  that  is  indeed 
marvellous." 

The  position  of  the  soldier  in  Ireland  is  very 
well  set  out  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  **  Sinn  Fein 
and  the  Irish  Volunteers  "  published  by 
authority  and  issued  to  the  troops  in  October, 
1920.  After  giving  an  account  of  the  origin  and 
history  of  Sinn  Fein,  and  of  the  organization  and 
methods  of  the  Republican  forces,  the  pamphlet 
proceeds  to  deal  with  the  attitude  of  the  Army 


RAILWAY   SITUATION.  243 

towards  these  forces  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  As  soldiers,  we  of  the  garrison  of  Ireland 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  political  opinion  or 
differences  of  opinion  of  the  Irish,  but  we  are  here 
to  ensure  that  law  and  order  are  maintained, 
to  support  the  police  in  maintaining  order  and  in 
suppressing  violence,  sedition,  and  disloyalty  to 
our  King  and  Empire. 

'*  It  will  be  seen  .  .  .  that  the  chief 
disturbers  of  the  peace  in  this  country  are  the 
extreme  sections  of  Sinn  Fein.  These  men  are 
mostly  enrolled  in,  and  many  are  leaders  of,  the 
Irish  Volunteers.  There  are  considerable  numbers 
of  these  all  over  Ireland,  and  their  organization 
is  good  and  complete.  Their  intelligence  service 
is  good,  and  they  are  always  anxious  to  obtain 
information  about  military  dispositions.  They 
want  more  arms,  they  want  explosives,  and  they 
want  to  commit  outrages  against  the  members  of 
the  police  or  military  and  do  all  the  damage  they 
can  to  Government  property  in  Ireland  without 
running  any  risk  to  themselves. 

"  These  are  the  reasons  why  so  many  guards 
have  to  be  mounted  on  Government  property  in 
Ireland,  why  sentries  have  to  be  doubled,  why 
armed  men  are  not  allowed  to  go  about  in  parties 
of  less  than  six.  A  soldier  in  Ireland  must  be 
particularly  careful  that  no  military  matters  are 
discussed  in  the  presence  of  civilians  and  to 
ensure  that  every  precaution  is  taken  that  arms 
and  ammunition,  or  explosives,  do  not  fall  into 
the  hands  of  unauthorised  persons.  He  must  be 
ready  at  all  times  to  go  to  the  assistance  of  the 


244      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

police  if  called  upon.  He  must  always  be  vigilant 
and  never  allow  himself  to  be  lulled  into  a  sense 
of  security  by  the  apparently  peaceful  appearance 
of  his  surroundings,  and  he  must  be  well  trained 
in  the  use  of  his  weapons  so  as  to  defend  himself 
should  the  necessity  arise. 

"  Every  soldier  in  Ireland  must  realise  that 
the  most  harmless  looking  civilian  may  be  armed 
and  hostile,  that  he  has  cunning  and  desperate 
men  to  deal  with  who  will  stop  at  nothing,  and 
are  capable  of  committing  any  outrage — provided 
the  risk  to  themselves  is  not  great,  but  who,  if 
stood  up  to,  generally  consider  that  discretion  is 
the  better  part  of  valour. 

' '  It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  every  move 
of  military  or  police  detachments  on  patrol, 
escorts,  etc.,  and  every  guard  are  carefully 
watched  at  all  times  by  the  members  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Army,  and  that  the  slightest  slack- 
ness is  detected  and  leads  to  attack.  The  fact 
that  an  attack  is  not  made  on  a  patrol,  escort, 
guard,  etc.,  means  not  that  the  opportunity  for 
attack  has  not  been  sought,  but  that  the  military 
precautions  in  such  particular  cases  have  been 
such  that  an  attack  would  be  likely  to  entail 
risk  of  life  and  limb  to  the  attackers." 

One  of  the  methods  employed  by  the 
Republicans  to  harass  the  military  authorities, 
and  also  the  police,  in  the  execution  of  their 
duties  was  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon 
railwaymen  throughout  Ireland  in  order  to 
induce  them  to  refuse  to  work  trains  carrying 
soldiers,  members  of  the  police  force,  or  stores 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  245 

intended  for  the  use  of  the  military  or  police. 
As  was  to  be  expected,  the  effects  of  this  policy- 
were  felt  most  strongly  in  the  South  and  West  of 
Ireland,  where  the  influence  of  the  Republicans 
was  strongest.  The  usual  tactics  employed  by 
the  intimidated  railwaymen  were  to  refuse  to  act 
as  soon  as  parties  of  soldiers  or  police  entered  the 
trains.  This  policy  began  to  take  a  serious  turn 
in  June,  1920.  The  following  examples  of  its 
action  during  that  month  show  the  methods 
employed. 

On  June  21st  a  party  of  police  who  were 
proceeding  to  their  headquarters  for  a  course  of 
instruction  boarded  the  7-30  a.m.  train  from 
Cloughjordan,  County  Tipperary.  The  engine- 
driver  refused  to  proceed  until  the  police  left  the 
train.  The  police  received  instructions  to  remain 
in  their  carriages,  and  the  train  remained  in  the 
station.  This  was  the  first  symptom  of  direct 
action  in  the  matter,  and  it  challenged  the 
maintenance  of  ordinary  civil  government.  The 
engine-driver  was  summoned  to  Dublin  by  the 
officials  of  the  G.S.  and  W.  Railway  Company, 
and  was  dismissed.  A  suggestion  was  promptly 
made  by  certain  Republican  sympathisers  that 
the  deadlock  was  deliberately  created  by  the  Irish 
Government  with  the  view  to  producing  a  test 
case,  and  forcing  an  issue  upon  a  dispute  that 
was  raging  at  the  time  over  the  carriage  of 
ammunition  upon  Irish  railways.  This  dispute 
had  begun  with  the  refusal  of  the  L.  and  N.W. 
Railway  employees  in  Dublin  to  unload  cargoes 
of  military  stores  from  that  Company's  steamers 
at  North  Wall,  Dublin. 


246      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

The  suggestion  that  the  authorities  had 
provoked  the  situation  was  entirely  unfounded, 
as  future  events  proved.  On  the  23rd  the 
situation  was  unchanged.  No  trains  were 
running  through  Cloughjordan  Station,  and  the 
station  was  guarded  by  troops.  Traffic  was 
held  up  on  the  whole  section  of  line  between 
Ballybrophy,  the  junction  for  Nenagh  on  the 
main  G.S.  and  W.  line,  and  Nenagh.  Would-be 
passengers  were  obliged  to  travel  by  Limerick 
Junction  or  to  make  use  of  such  local  facilities 
for  road  transport  as  they  could  find.  Later  on 
the  same  day  the  trouble  spread  to  Limerick.  A 
party  of  police  going  from  that  city  to  Nenagh 
were  held  up  at  Limerick  Station  by  the  railway- 
men  refusing  to  work  the  train.  On  the  same 
evening  the  night  mail  train  from  Cork  to 
Dublin  was  held  up  at  Blarney  at  9  p.m.  The 
two  guards  of  the  train  were  kidnapped  and 
removed  to  an  unknown  destination.  The 
telegraph  wires  in  the  vicinity  were  also  cut.  The 
police  remained  in  their  train  and  were  protected 
there  by  other  police  who  were  not  travelling.  On 
the  24th  the  railway  deadlock  spread  still 
further.  No  trains  left  Limerick  in  any 
direction.  An  engine-driver  at  Athenry,  in 
County  Gal  way,  on  the  M.G.W.  Railway 
refused  to  drive  a  train  containing  a  party  of 
police  from  that  station  to  Tuam.  The  police 
refused  to  leave  the  train,  and  the  line  was 
blocked. 

The  blocks  at  Cloughjordan,  Blarney,  and 
Athenry  isolated  large  parts  of  the  south-west  of 


RAILWAY   SITUATION.  247 

Ireland,  and  caused  great  hardship  to  the 
innocent  population.  It  has,  however,  always 
been  typical  of  the  operations  of  the  Republicans 
that  they  have  caused  far  more  distress  to  the 
civil  population  of  the  country  than  they  have  to 
the  Forces  of  the  Crown.  The  latter,  so  far  as 
transport  is  concerned,  can  always  fall  back  on 
other  means  than  those  provided  by  the  railways, 
but  the  civil  inhabitants  are  dependent  upon  an 
uninterrupted  railway  service  for  their  very 
existence. 

The  full  particulars  of  the  Limerick  incident 
form  a  very  good  example  of  the  procedure  in 
such  cases.  At  2-45  p.m.  on  June  23rd,  1920, 
eight  R.I.C.  recruits  boarded  a  train  at  Limerick 
Railway  Station  en  route  for  Nenagh.  The  driver 
and  guard  refused  to  handle  the  train,  and  both 
were  dismissed.  A  second  driver  and  guard  were 
procured,  and  at  4-30  p.m.  another  attempt  was 
made  to  get  the  train  away,  but  the  police  refused 
to  leave,  and  the  driver  and  guard,  upon  refusing 
to  handle  the  train,  were  also  dismissed.  A 
similar  occurrence  at  6-15  p.m.  resulted  in  a 
third  driver  and  guard  being  dismissed.  No 
further  attempt  was  made  on  that  day  to  run  a 
train  on  the  line  from  Limerick  to  Nenagh. 
Limerick  Station  was  closed  and  locked,  and  the 
police  returned  to  barracks. 

On  the  24th,  eight  constables  from  Dundrum, 
who  had  been  to  Tipperary  Quarter  Sessions, 
entered  the  6-15  p.m.  train  at  Tipperary  Station. 
The  engine-driver  refused  to  work  the  train  any 
further  while  the  police  remained  in  it.      The 


248       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

police  refused  to  leave  the  train,  and  traffic  was 
therefore  stopped. 

The  next  day,  six  police  with  some  prisoners 
for  trial  boarded  the  8-54  a.m.  train  from 
Carrick-on-Suir  to  Waterford.  The  train  was  a 
'  *  mixed  ' '  one,  consisting  of  both  passenger  and 
goods  stock.  The  engine-driver  shunted  the 
passenger  carriages  into  a  siding  and  took  the 
goods  portion  on  to  its  destination,  leaving  the 
police  with  their  prisoners  in  occupation  of  the 
carriages,  where  they  were  forced  to  remain  for 
the  greater  portion  of  the  day. 

On  the  same  day  (June  25th)  the  2-45  p.m. 
train  from  Cork  to  Dublin  did  not  run,  as  the 
guards  refused  to  work  it,  giving  as  their  reason 
that  as  the  two  guards  who  had  refused  to  work 
the  corresponding  train  from  Tipperary  to 
Dundrum  on  the  previous  day  had  been 
dismissed,  they  would  be  looked  upon  as  blacklegs 
if  they  worked  the  train.  There  was  no  question 
in  this  instance  of  police  or  military  being  on  the 
train.     The  guards  were  dismissed. 

Another  incident  occurred  on  the  25th.  The 
guard  and  the  driver  of  the  down  day  mail  train 
from  Castlebar,  County  Mayo,  refused  to  work 
the  train  any  further  owing  to  the  fact  that  a 
small  detachment  of  soldiers  was  travelling  in 
it. 

It  may  be  well  to  give  at  this  stage  some  very 
brief  particulars  of  the  Irish  Railway  System. 

Four  companies'  lines  radiate  from  Dublin  : 
the    Great    Northern    of    Ireland,    running    to 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  240 

Belfast  and  Derry,  with  a  terminus  at  Amiens 
Street  and  a  mileage  of  about  600 ;  the  Midland 
Great  Western,  running  to  Sligo,  Galway  and 
the  West,  with  a  terminus  at  Broadstone  and  a 
mileage  of  about  500;  the  Great  Southern  and 
Western,  running  to  Cork  and  the  South-west, 
with  a  terminus  at  Kingsbridge  and  a  mileage 
of  about  1,100;  and  the  Dublin  and  South 
Eastern,  running  to  Wexford  and  the  South 
East,  with  termini  at  Westland  Row  and 
Harcourt  Street,  and  a  mileage  of  about  156. 
Two  companies'  lines  radiate  from  Belfast,  the 
Belfast  and  County  Down,  with  a  terminus  at 
Queen's  Quay  and  a  mileage  of  about  80,  and  the 
Northern  Counties,  now  owned  by  the  Midland 
Company  of  England,  with  a  terminus  at  York 
Road  and  a  mileage  of  about  250.  In  addition 
to  these,  there  are  several  small  local  railways 
operating  throughout  the  country. 

Only  those  railways  operating  exclusively  in 
the  six  counties  of  Ulster  have  been  unaffected 
by  the  policy  adopted  by  the  Republicans.  There 
is  very  little  doubt  that  the  railwaymen  them- 
selves are  bitterly  opposed  to  a  scheme  which  can 
lead  to  nothing  but  dismissal  for  themselves  and 
acute  distress  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts 
served  by  the  lines  upon  which  the  disturbances 
occur.  But  such  are  the  methods  of  intimidation 
employed  by  the  Republicans  that  they  have  no 
option.  A  few  instances  of  this  intimidation 
will  make  the  matter  clear. 

A  notice,  printed  on  the  back  of  a  post-card, 
has  been  widely  circulated,  apparently  by  hand, 


250      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

to    railway   servants    throughout    the    country. 
The  notice  is  as  follows  : — 

GOVERNMENT    OF    THE     IRISH    REPUBLIC. 

Acting  under  instructions,  you  are  hereby 
notified  that  after  this  date  you  are  forbidden  to 
drive  any  train,  or  to  assist  in  any  way,  the 
transport  of  armed  forces  of  the  English 
Government. 

By  Order, 

MINISTRY  OF  WAR. 

Date 

A  copy  of  this  notice,  addressed  to  "  Mr.  P. 
Carty  of  Bundoran  "  bears  the  date  20/8/20. 

In  a  very  large  number  of  cases  loyal  railway 
servants  who  ignored  this  "  order  "  were 
waylaid  by  members  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  and 
illtreated.  Examples  of  these  cases  are  as 
follows  : — 

At  9  a.m.  on  17th  July,  1920,  on  the  arrival  of 
a  train  at  Enniskeen  Station,  in  the  Carrick- 
macross  district  of  County  Monaghan,  the  driver 
and  fireman  were  forcibly  removed  from  the 
engine  by  about  twelve  armed  and  masked  men 
and  taken  away  in  a  motor-car  in  the  direction 
of  Dundalk. 

At  8-15  a.m.  on  19th  July,  1920,  when  an 
engine-driver  in  the  service  of  the  Great  Northern 
Railway  (of  Ireland),  in  the  Dundalk  district, 
was  on  his  way  to  work,  he  was  attacked  by  a 
crowd  of  armed  men,  dragged  into  a  side  street 
and  tarred  and  feathered.      He  was  left  bound 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  251 

with  a  rope  which  he  eventually  succeeded  in 
undoing. 

At  12-45  on  2nd  of  July,  1920,  a  party  of 
armed  and  masked  men  raided  five  signal  cabins 
on  the  Great  Northern  Railway  in  County 
Louth.  They  forced  the  signalmen  on  duty  to 
sign  a  declaration  that  they  would  not  in  future 
signal  any  train  which  was  carrying  military  or 
police,  and  they  also  disconnected  the  telephone 
wires.  A  shunter  was  also  held  up  and  forced 
to  sign  a  similar  declaration. 

At  10-35  a.m.  on  30th  July,  1920,  on  the 
arrival  of  a  train  from  Clones  at  Newbliss, 
County  MonaghaUj  six  men,  four  of  whom  were 
armed,  rushed  the  engine.  The  driver  and  fire- 
man were  dragged*  off  it  and  driven  away  in  a 
motor-car  to  an  unknown  destination. 

At  9-30  p.m.  on  1st  August,  1920,  two  men 
entered  the  house  of  an  engine-driver  in  the 
service  of  the  Londonderry  and  Lough  Swilly 
Railway,  in  Londonderry  City,  and  carried  him 
off  in  a  motor-car  to  another  district.  He  was 
subsequently  released  after  being  compelled  to 
promise  that  he  would  not  in  future  drive  trains 
containing  military  or  police. 

At  1  a.m.  on  15th  of  August,  1920,  an  engine- 
driver  in  the  Dundalk  district  was  fired  at  and 
wounded  in  the  leg. 

At  about  10  p.m.  on  15th  September,  1920,  a 
fireman  in  the  employ  of  the  Great  Northern 
Railway  in  County  Armagh  was  held  up  by 
masked  and  armed  men  who  took  him  to  a  field 
and  made  him  sign  a  declaration  that  he  would 


262      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

not  drive  "  objectionable  "  trains  in  future.  On 
the  same  night  and  in  the  same  district  two 
engine-drivers  in  the  service  of  the  same  company 
vrere  held  up  by  a  party  of  about  twelve  or 
fourteen  armed  and  masked  men,  who  took  them 
to  a  field  and  tarred  one  of  them. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  all  these  incidents 
occurred  in  localities  where  the  population 
was  comparatively  free  from  Republican 
intimidation.  In  other  parts  of  Ireland  the  mere 
threat  of  danger  to  themselves  was  sufficient  to 
induce  the  men  to  carry  out  the  policy  of  the 
Volunteers. 

The  Republican  campaign  against  the  use  of 
the  railways  for  the  conveyance  of  the  Forces  of 
the  Crown  and  of  military  stores  did  not  end 
with  the  refusal  of  the  railwaymen  to  work  trains 
and  with  the  intimidation  and  illtreatment  of 
loyal  men.  Stations  and  trains  have  been  raided 
and  military  stores  destroyed  during  transit, 
and  in  some  cases  deliberate  attempts  have  been 
made  to  derail  trains,  regardless  of  the  loss  of 
innocent  life  which  might  be  entailed.  Examples 
of  the  destruction  of  public  property  are  as 
follows  : — 

At  1-5  p.m.  on  19th  July,  1920,  separate 
parties  of  armed  men  converged  upon  Kings- 
bridge  railway  terminus  in  Dublin.  Some  of 
the  men  arrived  in  two  motor-cars,  some  came  up 
on  foot,  and  others  gained  access  to  the  station 
by  hanging  on  to  a  wagon  which  was  being 
shunted.  Three  wagons  loaded  with  military 
stores  were  standing  in  the  goods  yard.       The 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  253 

raiders,  who  numbered  in  all  about  fifty,  held 
up,  at  the  point  of  their  revolvers,  the  two 
sentries  who  were  on  guard,  and  disarmed  them. 
They  then  saturated  the  wagons  with  petrol  and 
set  them  on  fire.  On  their  departure  they  took 
with  them  9  rifles,  450  rounds  of  ammunition, 
and  the  equipment  of  the  guard,  which  consisted 
of  nine  men.  The  fire  brigade  upon  its  arrival 
on  the  scene  refused  to  act. 

At  about  3  a.m.  on  19th  August,  1920,  the 
goods  shed  at  Swinford  Railway  Station,  County 
Mayo,  was  broken  into,  and  two  wagons 
containing  ten  tons  of  coal  and  foodstufis 
belonging  to  the  military  were  removed  and 
burned. 

At  11-30  p.m.  on  24th  August,  1920,  a  party 
of  armed  men  entered  the  railway  station  at 
Mullingar,  County  Westmeath,  and  destroyed  a 
consignment  of  asbestos  sheeting  consigned  to 
the  Royal  Air  Force  at  Oranmore,  County 
Galway. 

Examples  of  sabotage  are  as  follows : — 

On  the  night  of  12th  July,  1920,  about  ten 
yards  of  the  rails  on  the  Letterkenny  and  Burton- 
port  Railway  in  County  Donegal  were  torn  up, 
and  the  telegraph  wires  on  the  Donegal  Joint 
Committee  Railway  and  on  the  Lough  Swilly 
Railway  were  cut. 

On  15th  July,  1920,  the  watchman  at  Meigh 
railway  crossing,  in  the  Bessbrook  district  of 
County  Monaghan,  was  held  up  by  armed  men, 
who  prevented  him  from  opening  the  gates  until 
a   goods   train   ran   through  and   broke   them. 


254      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Fortunately  no  damage  was  done  to  the  train  and 
no  one  was  injured. 

At  4  a.m.  on  22nd  July,  1920,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  derail  a  goods  train  travelling  from 
Cavan  to  Redhills,  in  County  Cavan,  by  a  party 
of  men  estimated  to  number  about  eighty. 
Railway  sleepers  and  the  trunks  of  eleven  trees 
were  placed  across  the  line,. but  the  driver  dashed 
through  and  reached  Ballyhaise  junction  in 
safety.    The  engine  of  the  train  was  damaged. 

On  4th  of  August,  1920,  the  railway  line 
between  Letterkenny  and  Dungloe  was  torn  up 
for  a  distance  of  thirty  yards. 

The  attitude  of  the  Irish  Administration 
towards  the  railway  situation  can  best  be  shown 
by  a  series  of  extracts  from  official  reports  upon 
these  matters.  Before  quoting  them,  however,  a 
short  account  of  the  difficulties  to  be  met  must  be 
given. 

The  policy  of  the  Railway  Companies  was  to 
dismiss  every  railway  servant  who  refused  to 
work  trains  on  the  ground  that  military,  police, 
or  munitions  were  being  carried.  This  policy 
was  perfectly  logical,  as  the  men  had  obviously 
disobeyed  orders.  But  if  the  Government  were 
to  insist  that  members  of  the  Forces  of  the  Crown 
should  claim  the  right  to  travel  upon  the 
railways,  the  consequent  dismissals  of  staff 
would  so  deplete  the  numbers  available  that 
the  operation  of  the  railways  would  become 
impossible,  as  indeed  actually  happened  in 
certain  cases.  This  would  punish  the  whole  of 
the  land,  and  not  merely  the  minority  who  sympa- 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  255 

thised  with  outrage.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
obvious  that  all  means  of  public  transport  must 
be  equally  available  to  all  members  of  the 
community,  whether  they  be  servants  of  the 
Crown  or  private  citizens.  Mobility  of  military 
and  police  forces  is  essential  if  order  is  to  be 
kept  throughout  the  country  and  if  assistance  is 
to  be  rendered  to  local  authorities  petitioning  for 
forces  to  avert  threatened  disturbances.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  very  frequently  it  is 
authorities  of  declared  Sinn  Fein  sympathies 
who  call  for  protection,  as  in  the  case  of  Derry 
during  the  month  of  July,  1920.  If  the  attitude 
of  the  rail waymen  were  to  be  tolerated,  the  effect 
would  be  that  the  movement  by  rail  of  extremists, 
such^  for  instance,  as  members  of  the  outrage 
gangs,  would  remain  unrestricted,  whilst  the 
forces  of  law  and  order  would  be  compelled  to 
rely  upon  such  road  transport  as  could  be 
improvised. 

In  a  report  dated  12th  July,  1920,  the  situation 
is  expressed  as  follows  : 

'  *  The  Railway  situation  is  developing  steadily 
in  the  direction  of  a  general  deadlock,  but  it  has 
not  yet  been  necessary  to  have  recourse  to 
emergency  measures  to  deal  with  essential  traffic. 
.  .  .  The  police  and  military  have  been 
instructed  to  exercise  their  ordinary  rights  to  the 
use  of  the  railway  service,  both  on  the  main  and 
branch  lines,  without  taking  any  steps  with  a 
view  to  precipitating  a  crisis.  On  the  M.G-.W. 
Railway  no  trains  have  run  during  the  week 
westward  from  Castlerae,  Athenry,  and  Castle- 


256      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

bar.  On  the  G.S,  &  W.  Railway  the  Limerick- 
Ballybrophy  branch  is  blocked  by  a  train  held  up 
at  Cloughjordan  since  the  5th  instant*  and  the 
use  of  the  Limerick  to  Charleville  line  f»r 
passenger  traffic  has  been  discontinued.  The 
passenger  service  on  the  Drimoleague  and  Bantry 
Extension  has  been  suspended,  but  a  goods  train 
operates  each  way  daily.  The  G.N.  Railway 
maintained  a  normal  service  until  the  9th  instant, 
when  it  was  found  impossible  to  find  a  substitute 
for  a  driver  who  refused  to  convey  a  party  of 
military  from  Drogheda,  and  the  Drogheda-Kells 
branch  of  the  line  has  been  closed  in  consequence. 
No  hold-up  has  been  reported  on  the  D.  &  S.E. 
Railway,  which  is  running  a  normal  service. 

' '  The  dismissals  resulting  from  the  local  dead- 
locks have  considerably  depleted  the  staff  of 
drivers  and  firemen  on  the  M.G.W.  and  G.S.  &- 
W.  Railways,  and  has  caused  a  general  curtail- 
ment of  the  passenger  service  throughout  the 
whole  extent  of  these  lines,  and  some  irregularity 
in  the  goods  traffic.  Reports  from  the  various 
holiday  resorts  of  the  South  and  West  show  that 
the  tourist  season  is  being  very  adversely  affected 
and  is  likely  to  be  one  of  the  worst  on  record." 

The  report  for  26th  July,  1920,  contains  the 
following. 

'*  The  railway  situation  stands  very  much 
where  it  did  a  week  ago.  .  .  .A  number  of 
further  dismissals  occurred  on  the  G.S.  &  W. 
Railway,  in  consequence  of  the  drivers  refusing 

*  See  page  245. 


RAILWAY   SITUATION.  257 

to  convey  a  party  of  R.I. C.  from  Kingsbridge  to 
Kildare  on  the  2l8t  and  the  22nd  instant,  for  the 
purpose  of  attending  rifle  practicje  at  the 
Curragh.  The  Constabulary  were  instructed  to 
travel  on  any  train  that  might  be  available,  and 
accordingly  boarded  the  race  specials  for  the 
Curragh  races  when  drivers  of  the  ordinary 
trains  refused  to  proceed.  This  action  had  the 
effect  of  causing  a  stoppage  of  all  race  trains  for 
the  Curragh  Meeting  and  the  unavoidable 
infliction  of  a  considerable  amount  of  annoyance 
to  the  racing  public.  Owing  to  the  lack  of  train 
facilities  the  Powerstown  Park  Meeting  fixed  for 
the  24th  instant  was  abandoned." 

On  4th  August,  1920,  the  following  remarks 
appear. 

"  Owing  to  intimidation  and  attempts  to 
derail  trains  the  staff  of  the  Londonderry  and 
Lough  Swilly  Railway  have  refused  to  operate 
the  branch  line  between  Letterkenny  and 
Strabane  which  has  accordingly  been  closed  since 
the  30th  ultimo.  In  consequence  of  the  numerous 
seizures  of  petrol  on  the  M.G.W.  Railway  during 
the  early  part  of  last  month  it  has  been  necessary 
to  issue  a  general  prohibition  on  the  carriage  of 
petrol  on  that  line,  but  steps  are  being  taken  to 
arrange  for  transport  under  Military  escort  of 
the  amount  necessary  to  meet  immediate  civil 
needs." 

This  last  sentence  once  again  emphasises  the 
fact  that  it  is  for  the  care  of  the  civil  population 
that  the  troops  are  in  Ireland.  The  hardships 
resulting  from  these  thefts  of  petrol  will  be  seen 
below.  B 


258      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

On  8th  August,  1920,  the  Report  states  that 
"  An  extension  of  the  area  of  stoppage  on  the 
M.G.W.  system  took  place  on  the  2nd  instant, 
when  the  passenger  service  on  the  Athlone, 
Castlerea,  and  Claremorris  branch  was  taken  off 
owing  to  shortness  of  staff. " 

On  15th  August,  1920,  it  is  reported  that 
"  The  only  incident  of  note  .  .  .  was  the 
temporary  hold-up  at  Fermoy  on  the  13th  instant 
of  a  party  of  unarmed  soldiers  belonging  to  the 
Buffs,  who  were  proceeding  on  leave  prior  to 
embarkation  for  India.  This  is  the  first  instance 
of  a  refusal  to  drive  unarmed  members  of  mili- 
tary and  police  forces,  and  the  action  of  the 
railway  men  was  inconsistent  with  their  declared 
policy,  which  prohibits  the  carriage  of  armed 
forces  only."  On  10th  September,  1920,  the 
Report  says  "  The  hardships  caused  by  the  dis- 
location of  cross  country  traffic  (on  the  M.G.W. 
system)  is  being  severely  felt  in  the  western 
districts.  The  frequent  raids  on  petrol  con- 
signed for  purely  commercial  purposes  have 
necessitated  the  imposition  of  restrictions  on  the 
carriage  of  this  article  on  the  M.G.W.  line. 

' '  The  resulting  shortage  of  petrol  has  inflicted 
serious  loss  and  inconvenience  on  farmers  and  on 
traders  engaged  in  the  salmon  fishing  industry. 
Large  quantities  of  salmon  intended  for  the 
English  markets  have  perished  owing  to  the  want 
of  petrol  for  its  conveyance  by  road  from  out- 
lying places  where  rail  transport  is  not  avail- 
able." 

During    September    still    more    pressure    was 


RAILWAY   SITUATION.  259 

brought  to  bear  upon  those  rail  way  men  who 
remained  loyal.  On  the  10th  a  G.N.  railway 
driver  was  attacked  by  a  crowd  of  railwaymen 
in  Dublin,  and  having  been  gagged  and  hand- 
cuffed was  chained  to  a  lamp  standard  in  Amiens 
Street  and  exposed  to  public  ridicule  for  half  an 
hour  until  released  by  the  police.  By  the  23rd 
the  shortage  of  staff  necessitated  the  closing  of 
three  more  branch  lines  on  the  G.N.R.  :  the 
Dundalk  to  Enniskillen  line,  the  Carrickmacross 
branch,  and  the  Cootehill  branch. 

On  the  6th  October,  however,  the  following 
significant  passage  occurs  in  one  of  the  official 
reports : 

"  There  is  reason  for  believing  that  the  long 
protracted  struggle  is  being  maintained  with 
increasing  difficulty  by  the  recalcitrant  section 
of  railwaymen.  It  is  reported  that  subscrip- 
tions have  practically  ceased  and  that  the  strike 
funds  are  now  very  low."  On  the  10th  October 
Sir  Eric  Geddes,  the  Minister  of  Transport, 
crossed  over  to  Dublin,  and  conferences  were  held 
at  Dublin  Castle  as  to  the  measures  to  be  adopted 
to  deal  with  the  refusal  of  the  railwaymen  to 
handle  military  and  police  traffic.  During  the 
previous  days  several  further  cases  of  refusal  to 
convey  troops  and  military  stores  had  occurred, 
these  resulting  in  the  suspension  of  a  number  of 
employees  and  the  closing  of  yet  another  branch 
line  (the  Londonderry  and  Lough  Swilly  Rail- 
way between  Buncrana  and  Carndonagh,  which 
ceased  working  on  the  7th). 

The    Railway    situation    at    this    time    may 


260      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

be  summarised  as  follows :  The  Government 
have  agreed,  as  in  the  case  of  English  Railways, 
to  subsidise  the  Irish  Companies  to  an  extent 
sufficient  to  enable  them  to  pay  their  pre-war 
dividends.  Owing  to  the  action  of  the  railway- 
men  in  refusing  to  convey  troops,  police  and 
munitions,  the  Government  is  imable  to  make  use 
of  the  railways  for  its  own  traffic.  There  is  no 
question  of  the  Government  acquiescing  in  this 
state  of  affairs.  Whenever  the  necessity  arises, 
soldiers"  and  police  present  themselves  as  passen- 
gers by  train.  If  they  are  carried,  well  and 
good,  if  not,  the  defaulting  railwaymen  are 
suspended,  and  a  shortage  of  staff  ensues,  result- 
ing eventually  in  a  curtailment  of  services.  It 
is  obvious  that  sooner  or  later  complete  paralysis 
must  overtake  the  Irish  Railway  system.  When 
this  occurs,  it  will  be  impossible  to  institute  an 
alternative  road  transport  service  such  has  been 
improvised  in  England  during  railway  strike 
periods.  In  the  first  place,  the  necessary  lorries 
and  drivers  are  not  available;  and  in  the  second, 
it  is  unlikely  that  the  Republicans  would  allow 
such  a  service  to  operate  without  interruption. 
The  final  result  would  be  that  large  parts  of 
Ireland  would  be  deprived  of  the  supply  of  the 
necessities  of  life,  and  the  action  of  the  Volun- 
teers would  culminate  in  acute  distress,  if  not 
actual  famine,  throughout  large  areas  of  the 
country. 

This  is  merely  another  example  illustrative  of 
the  fact  that  the  whole  tendency  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
movement  is  not  to  produce  prosperity,  but,  in  the 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  261 

course  of  its  striving  after  an  end  undesired  by 
all  but  a  turbulent  minority,  to  ruin  the  very 
country  which  it  professes  to  wish  to  render  free, 
independent,  and  thriving. 

During  the  later  months  of  the  year  the  railway 
situation  became  still  worse.  Early  in  November 
the  M.G.W.  railway  warned  its  employees  that 
owing  to  the  drain  upon  its  staff  it  would  be  com- 
pelled to  discharge  its  men  and  to  close  its  entire 
system  on  the  14th  November.  On  the  12th 
November  a  new  Regulation  was  published  under 
the  Restoration  of  Order  in  Ireland  Act,  giving 
the  competent  naval  and  military  authority 
power  to  make  orders  "  regulating,  requiring, 
restricting,  or  prohibiting  the  carriage  of  passen- 
gers and  articles  on  railways  in  Ireland."  An 
order  under  this  regulation  may  be  made  to  apply 
either  generally  in  relation  to  all  railway  under- 
takings in  Ireland,  or  to  any  particular  railway 
or  part  of  it,  and  it  may  be  made  to  apply  to  the 
carriage  of  all  passengers  and  articles  or  to 
certain  specified  passengers  and  articles.  For 
the  purpose  of  securing  compliance  with  the 
provisions  of  any  order  made  imder  this  regu- 
lation, the  competent  naval  or  military  authority 
may  take  possession  of  any  railway  undertaking, 
or  any  part  of  it. 

On  15th  November  the  Chief  Secretary  summed 
up  the  situation  in  the  following  words  in  the 
House  of  Commons : 

"  The  Railway  situation  in  Ireland  is  clear. 
For  many  months  past  certain  drivers,  guards 
and  signalmen  on  the  railway-lines  running  West 


262      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

and  South  from  Dublin  have  refused  to  carry- 
Irish  Policemen,  British  Soldiers  and  their 
munitions.  All  Railways  in  Ireland  are  sub- 
si-dised  by  the  British  Government,  and  the 
increased  wages  of  Irish  railwaymen  and  the 
dividends  of  shareholders  are  made  certain 
because  of  these  subsidies.  As  a  result  of  their 
refusal  to  carry  Government  traffic  many  of  these 
railwaymen  have  been  dismissed  from  time  to 
time.  So  many  of  the  key  men  have  been  dis- 
missed because  of  their  refusal,  that  certain  Irish 
railways  must  now  cease  operating,  as  they 
cannot  carry -on.  The  railway  running  North 
from  Dublin  and  the  lines  in  North-East  Ireland 
are  running  normally,  and  with  few  exceptions 
their  railwaymen  have  not  refused  to  do  their 
duty. 

"  The  refusal  to  carry  police  and  soldiers  is 
due  to  two  causes.  First,  because  some  extreme 
Sinn  Fein  railwaymen  hoped  by  their  refusal 
to  embarrass  the  Government.  Second,  the  Sinn 
Fein  murder  gang  terrorised  other  railwaymen 
into  a  refusal  to  do  their  duties.  Loyal  railway- 
men  have  been  shot,  tarred  and  feathered, 
assaulted  and  terrorised  by  Sinn  Feiners. 

' '  The  Government  have  insisted  and  will  insist 
on  the  carriage  of  Government  traffic  on  Irish 
Railways.  The  stoppage  of  these  railways,  as 
I  pointed  out  months  ago,  will  mean  economic 
disaster  to  part  of  Ireland,  but  the  responsibility 
for  that,  among  many  other  disasters,  is  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  leaders  of  the  Sinn  Fein  move- 
ment.    They,  in  their  murderous  endeavour  to 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  263 

smash  the  British  Empire  and  weaken  the  Anglo- 
American  friendship,  are  bringing  the  South  and 
West  of  Ireland  to  political  anarchy  and 
economic  ruin.  As  a  result  of  the  stoppage  of 
the  railways  there  will  follow  the  stoppage  of  the 
mails  and  the  stoppage  of  the  payment  of  Old 
Age  and  other  Pensions  that  now  depend  upon 
mail  deliveries.  The  Irish  Government  and  the 
British  Government  are  naturally  most  anxious 
to  restore  Ireland  and  Irish  railways  to  normal 
conditions,  but  no  Government  can  allow  railway- 
men  subsidised  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  tax- 
payers to  refuse  to  carry  police  and  soldiers. ' ' 

The  reply  of  the  Republicans  to  the  new  Regu- 
lation was  the  commencement  of  a  campaign  of 
sabotage.  On  the  night  of  14th  November  rail- 
way lines  were  torn  up  in  the  Counties  of  Cavan 
and  Monaghan,  causing  in  the  latter  case  damage 
to  a  passing  train.  Fortunately  this  tendency 
did  not  spread. 

On  the  Ist  December  the  position  on  the 
railways  was  thus  described  in  detail  in  answer 
to  a  question  in  the  House  of  Commons : 

**  Passenger  and  goods  trains  have  ceased  to 
run  on  the  under-mentioned  sections : 

**  Great  Southern  and  Western  Railway : 
Limerick  to  Waterford;  Limerick  to  Tralee; 
Ballingrane  Junction  to  Foynes;  Patrickswell  to 
Charleville;  Killonan  to  Nenagh;  Birdhill  to 
Killaloe;  Clara  to  Banagher. 

"  Cork,  Bandon  and  South  Coast  Railway: 
Kinsale  Junction  to  Kinsale;  Clonakilty  Junc- 
tion to  Clonakilty. 


264      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

'  *  BaUinascarthy  and  Timoleague  Railway  and 
Timoleague  and  Courtmacsherry  Extension  Rail- 
way :  BaUinascarthy  to  Courtmacsherry. 

*  *  Great  Northern  (Ireland)  Railway  :  Dun- 
dalk  to  Enniskillen ;  Inniskeen  to  Carrickma- 
cross;  Ballybay  to  Cootehill;  Ballyhaise  to  Bel- 
turbet;  Bundoran  Junction  to  Bundoran. 

"  Londonderry,  Lough  Swilly  and  Letter- 
kenny  Railway  and  Burtonport  and  Carndonagh 
Extensions :  Tooban  Junction  to  Burton  port; 
Buncrana  to  Carndonagh. 

' '  Passenger  services  have  ceased  to  run  on  the 
imder-mentioned  systems  or  sections,  but  a  goods 
service  is  maintained,  in  almost  every  case  a 
reduction  from  the  normal  and  in  some  cases  a 
reduction  of  considerable  magnitude  : 

''Great  Southern  and  Western  Railway: 
Roscrea  to  Nenagh;  Kildare  to  Kilkenny,  via 
Carlow;  Limerick  to  Sligo;  Mallow  to  Tralee. 

' '  Midland  Great  Western  Railway  :  Athlone 
to  Achill;  Manulla  Junction  to  Killala. 

"  Cork,  Bandon  and  South  Coast  Railway  : 
Drimoleague  Junction  to  Ban  try;  Cork  to  Skib- 
bereen. 

"  Cork  a/nd  Macroom  Direct  RoUwoaj. 

"  Cork  and  Muskerry  Light  RailwaAj  and 
Donoughmore  Extension. 

"  Tralee  and  Dingle  Railway. 

"  West  and  South  Clare  Railways. 

"  The  following  systems  or  sections  have  been 
affected,  but  a  passenger  and  goods  service  has 
been  maintained  with  varying  degrees  of  reduc- 
tion from  the  normal : 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  265 

'*  Great  Southern  and  Western  Railway : 
Tralee  to  Valentia  Harbour;  Roscrea  to  Birr; 
Maryboro'  to  Waterford;  Sallins  to  Tullow; 
Mallow  to  Waterford;  Waterford  to  Wexford 
and  Rosslare  Harbour;  Wexford  to  Rosslare 
Harbour;  Clonmel  to  Thurles;  Kingsbridge  to 
Cork. 

"  Midland  Great  Western  Railway  :  Broad- 
stone  to  Clifden;  MuUingar  to  Sligo;  Inny  Junc- 
tion to  Gavan;  Clonsilla  to  Kingscourt;  Eden- 
derry  Branch;  Killeshandra  Branch;  Athboy 
Branch;  Ballinrobe  Branch. 

* '  Londonderry  and  Lough  Swilly  Railway/  : 
Londonderry  to  Buncrana. 

*'  Listowel  and  Ballyhunion  Railway." 

This  represents  the  utmost  extent  which  the 
railway  strike  attained. 

It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  a  strong 
desire  for  the  return  to  work  of  the  railway-men 
was  growing  in  every  part  of  the  country.  On 
December  15th  the  following  advertisement 
appeared  in  the  Irish  Press  : — 

IRISH  LABOUR  PARTY  &   TRADES 
UNION   CONGRESS 


NATIONAL  EXECUTIVE. 


TO  THE  RAILWAY  AND  DOCK  WORKEES. 

Over    six    monthB    ago,    responding    to    a    patriotic 
impulse,    you    decided    that    you    would    not    handle 


266       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Munitions  of  War  or  drive  trains  containing  armed 
men.  In  this  protest  you  were  supported  by  aJll  right- 
thinking  Irish  men  and  women;  and  when,  after  the 
struggle  began,  you  asked  this  National  Executive  for 
advice  and  guidance,  we  readily  gave  you  all  the 
support  within  our  power. 

In  response  to  our  appeal  for  funds  to  support  the 
dismissed  men,  the  country  has  subscribed  most 
generously. 

In  the  eariy  stages  of  the  struggle  it  became  evident 
that  the  British  Government's  design  was  to  force  a 
quick  close-down  of  the  railway  services,  while  at  the 
same  time  seeking  to  make  it  appear  that  the  Railway 
workers  were  responsible.  We  advised  you  to  frustrate 
this  plan  by  refusing  to  strike,  but  rather  to  accept 
individual  suspension.  We  assured  you  then  that  every 
new  development  would  be  watched  and  would  be  met 
by  new  tactics,  .when  such  were  called  for. 

As  a  result  of  your  loyal  acceptance  of  the  advice 
given,  the  country  has  been  spared  much  hardship  and 
loss,  and  your  protest  for  six  months  has  been  unique 
in  the  annals  of  the  Labour  Movement. 

Notwithstanding  the  defeatist  campaign  in  the  Press, 
inspired  by  that  section  of  the  trading  community  which 
reckons  National  well-being  in  terms  of  £  s.  d.,  we 
have,  during  the  past  few  weeks,  received  ample 
evidence  of  the  willingness  of  the  Railwaymen,  and 
workers  generally,  to  suffer  whatever  loss  and  sacrifice 
the  National  interest  may  require. 

We  have  been  well  aware  that  the  cessation  of  Rail- 
way transport  would  necessitate  a  drastic  re-organisa- 
tion of  the  country's  economic  life,  calling  for  consider- 
able sacrifice  and  entailing  a  great  organising  effort 
which  would  require  the  unimpeded  activities  of  the 
Nation's  best  brains. 

The  British  Authority,  which  assumes  governmental 
power  in  Ireland,  has,  with  deliberate  intent,  sought 
to  interfere  with  and  destroy  the  preparations  being 
made  to  cope  with  the  problem  of  providing  food,  milk 
and  f ue^l  for  the  people ;  they  have  seized  the  papers 
and  records  of  our  Food  Committee,  have  arrested  and 
imprisoned  without  charge  the  members  of  these  Com- 
mittees,    and     have     placed     a     barrier     against     the 


RAILWAY    SITUATION.  267 

organisation  of  the  Motor  Transport  service  for  the 
distribution  of  food  supplies. 

These  acts  have  been  followed  by  the  proclamation 
of  Martial  Law,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Lloyd  George's 
insulting  offer  to  allow  the  elected  representatives  of  the 
Irish  people  to  meet  together  under  police  protection  for 
the  purpose  of  denouncing  their  colleagues  and  dis- 
cussing subjects  strictly  defined  beforehand  by  himself. 
Not  to  be  niggardly  in  his  insolence,  he  couples  this 
so-called  "  peace  offer  "  by  a  threat  to  intensify  the 
campaign  of  frightfulness.  His  cue  is  immediately 
taken  up  in  the  City  of  Cork;  the  published  threats  to 
utterly  destroy  the  city  beipg  carried  a  long  way 
towards  fulfilment. 

In  the  light  of  the  foregoing,  the  National  Executive 
has  given  careful  thought  to  the  position  as  it  lies 
before  us  to-day;  changed  conditions  require  a  change 
of  tactics,  and  we  have  decided  to  advise  the  Railway 
and  Dock  Workers  to  alter  the  position,  and  to  offer 
to  carry  everj'thing  that  the  British  Military 
Authorities  are  willing  to  risk  on  the  trains.  Whatever 
the  risks  that  may  be  involved  in  carrying  out  this 
advice,  we  feel  confident  that  the  Railwaymen  are  not 
less  willing  to  face  them  than  the  travelling  public. 

We  ask  the  Railwaymen  to  continue  to  hold  them- 
se^lves  ready  to  respond  on  the  instant  to  any  call  that 
may  be  made  by  this  Executive  in  pursuance  of  our 
policy,  assuring  them  that  no  call  will  be  made  without 
the  fullest  consideration,  and  only  when  vital  National 
interests  justify  it. 

SIGNED   FOE.  THE   NATIONAL   EXECUTIVE, 

THOMAS  FORAN,  Chairman. 
THOMAS   MacPARTLIN,    V ice-Chairman. 
WILLIAM  O'BRIEN,  Treasurer. 
THOMAS  JOHNSON,  Secretary. 
32,  Lower  Abbey  Street,  Dublin,  14th  December,  1920. 

Finally,  on  21st  December,  a  Conference  of 
Irish  railwaymen  was  held  in  the  Mansion 
House,  Dublin,  at  which  a  resolution  in  favour 


268       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

of  unconditional  resumption  of  work  was  carried 
unanimously.  By  the  end  of  the  year  consider- 
able progress  had  been  made  towards  a  resump- 
tion of  normal  conditions  upon  all  the  lines 
affected. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    POLICE    FORCES. 

In  the  year  1787  the  Irish  Parliament,  more 
usually  known  as  Grattan's  Parliament,  passed 
an  Act  for  the  policing  of  Ireland,  which  set  up 
a  primitive  body  of  constables  for  the  purpose  of 
enforcing  order  in  the  country.  This  Force 
never  achieved  any  measure  of  success,  although 
a  further  Act  was  passed  in  1792,  designed  to 
render  it  more  efficient.  With  the  Union  the 
Force  became  practically  obsolete,  and  nothing 
further  was  done  until  1814,  when  an  Act  was 
passed  by  the  Parliament  at  Westminster  which 
empowered  the  Lord  Lieutenant  to  appoint  a 
Chief  Magistrate,  a  Chief  Constable,  and  fifty 
constables  for  each  county.  These  appointments 
were  knovm  as  the  *  *  Peace  Preservation  Force, ' ' 
and  as  such  remained  in  existence  until  the  Act  of 
1836.  Meanwhile,  in  1822,  Sir  Robert  Peel  had 
founded  the  Irish  Constabulary,  consisting  of 
an  Inspeotor-Greneral  for  each  Province,  con- 
trolling between  them  a  force  of  between  five  and 
six  thousand  officers  and  men.  These  men  were 
dressed  in  a  dark  green  uniform,  and  were  armed 
with  flint-lock  carbines. 


270      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Although  the  Irish  Constabulary  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel  were  undoubtedly  the  forerunners  of  the 
present  R.I.C.,  it  was  not  until  "  Drummond's 
Act  "  of  1836  that  the  Force  took  on  anything 
like  its  present  shape.  This  Act  is  worth  quot- 
ing somewhat  fully,  for  it  still  forms  the  basis 
of  the  constitution  of  the  Force.  It  consolidated 
and  placed  under  a  central  control  the  whole  of 
the  police  of  the  country,  except  in  the  City  of 
Dublin,  both  the  Peace  Preservation  Force  and 
the  Irish  Constabulary,  and  was  entituled  "  An 
Act  to  consolidate  the  Laws  relating  to  the  Con- 
stabulary Force  in  Ireland."  The  Act  repeals 
certain  previous  Acts  of  the  reigns  of  George  III. 
and  George  IV.,  which  gave  powers  to  appoint 
constables  "  in  certain  cases."  Constables  pre- 
viously appointed  are  to  be  merged  in  the  new 
force  now  created.  Power  is  given  to  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  to  appoint  an  ' '  Inspector-General  of 
Police  throughout  Ireland,  who  shall  reside  in 
Dublin  and  shall  be  charged  and  invested  with 
the  general  Direction  and  Superintendence  of  the 
Force  to  be  established  under  this  Act,"  also 
"  One  or  Two  fit  and  proper  persons  to  be 
Deputies  to  the  said  Inspector-General." 

"  And  in  order  to  provide  for  one  uniform 
System  of  Rules  and  Regulations  throughout  the 
whole  Establishment  of  Police  in  Ireland,  be  it 
enacted.  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  such 
Inspector-General  .  .  .  from  time  to  time 
to  frame  .  .  .  Rules,  Orders,  and  Regula- 
tions for  the  general  Government  of  the  several 
Persons  to  be  appointed  under  this  Act." 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  271 

Power  is  also  given  for  the  appointment  of 
County  Inspectors  and  Sub-Inspectors.  Finally, 
power  is  given  for  the  appointment  of  the  actual 
rank  and  file  of  the  Force. 

"  And  be  it  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  the  Lord  Lieutenant  or  other  Chief  Governor 
or  Governors  of  Ireland  to  appoint  from  time  to 
time  at  his  Will  and  Pleasure,  in  and  for  each 
County  of  a  City  and  County  of  a  Town,  except 
the  said  County  of  the  City  of  Dublin,  One  Chief 
Constable,  Two  Head  Constables,  and  any  such 
Number  of  Constables  and  Sub- Constables,  not 
exceeding  One  hundred,  as  may  be  deemed  by  him 
or  them  to  be  necessary  and  sufficient  for  the 
Preservation  of  the  Peace  therein,  and  in  and 
for  each  Barony*,  Half  Barony,  or  other 
division  of  Barony  in  each  County  at  large.  One 
Chief  Constable,  Two  Head  Constables,  and  any 
Number  of  Constables  and  Sub- Constables,  not 
exceeding  Sixteen. 

"  And  be  it  enacted,  That  no  Person  shall  be 
appointed  to  be  a  Chief  or  other  Constable  or 
Sub- Constable  under  this  Act  unless  he  shall  be 
of  a  sound  Constitution,  able-bodied,  and  imder 
the  Age  of  Forty  Years,  able  to  read  and  write, 
of  a  good  Character  for  Honesty,  Fidelity,  and 
Activity;  and  that  no  Person  shall  be  appointed 
to  be  such  Chief  or  other  Constable  or  Sub-Con- 
stable who  shall  be  a  Game-keeper,  Wood-ranger, 
Tithe    Proctor,     Viewer     of     Tithes,     Bailiff, 

♦  The  Baronies  are  the  most  ancient  territorial  divisions  of 
Ireland,  and  they  existed  under  other  names  prior  to  the 
introduction  of  Christianity.  The  Census  of  1901  enumerates 
327  Baronies,  varying  in  extent  from  310,386  to  1,693  acres. 


272      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Sheriff's  Bailiff,  or  Parish  Clerk,  or  who  shall  be 
a  hired  Seryant  in  the  Employment  of  any  Person 
whomsoever,  or  who  shall  keep  any  House  for  the 
Sale  of  Beer,  Wines,  or  Spirituous  Liquors  by 
Retail. 

"  And  be  it  enacted,  That  no  Person  appointed 
under  this  Act  .  .  .  shall  be  capable  of 
holding  the  said  Office  or  of  acting  in  any  way 
therein,  until  he  shall  take  and  subscribe  the  Oath 
here  following ;  (that  is  to  say) 

"I,  A  .B.,  do  swear.  That  I  will  well  and  truly 
serve  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King  in  the  Office 
of  (Inspector,  Constable,  etc.),  without  Favour  of 
Affection,  Malice  or  Ill-Will ;  that  I  will  see  and 
cause  His  Majesty's  Peace  to  be  kept  and  pre- 
served, and  that  I  will  prevent  to  the  best  of  my 
Power  all  Offences  against  the  same;  And  that 
while  I  shall  continue  to  hold  the  said  Office  I 
will,  to  the  best  of  my  Skill  and  Knowledge,  dis- 
charge all  the  Duties  thereof,  in  the  execution  of 
Warrants  and  otherwise,  faithfully  according  to 
Law ;  and  that  I  do  not  now  belong,  and  that  I 
will  not,  while  I  shall  hold  the  said  Office,  join, 
subscribe,  or  belong  to  any  political  Society  what- 
soever, or  to  any  secret  Society  whatsoever,  unless 
to  the  Society  of  Freemasons.  So  help  me 
GOD. 

"  And  be  it  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  Lord  Lieutenant  ...  to  fix  and  appoint 
such  annual  Salaries  as  to  him  ,  .  .  may 
from  Time  to  Time  seem  proper,  not  exceeding 
the  several  Sums  herein-after  specified  .  .  . 
(that  is  to  say)  to  the  Inspector-General  of  Police 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  273 

an  annual  Salary  not  exceeding  One  thousand 
five  hundred  Pounds,  to  each  Deputy  Inspector 
an  annual  Salary  not  exceeding  Eight  hundred 
Pounds  ...  to  each  County  Inspector  an 
annual  Salary  not  exceeding  Five  hundred 
Pounds,  to  each  Sub-Inspector  an  annual  Salary 
not  exceeding  Two  hundred  and  fifty  Pounds 
,  .  .  to  each  Chief  Constable  an  annual 
Salary  not  exceeding  One  hundred  and  fifty 
Pounds,  to  each  Head  Constable  an  annual 
Salary  not  exceeding  Seventy  Pounds,  to  each 
Constable  an  annual  Salary  not  exceeding 
Thirty-five  Pounds,  to  each  Sub- Constable  an 
annual  Salary  not  exceeding  Twenty-five 
Pounds." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  saving  clause 
in  the  Oath,  permitting  membership  of  the 
Society  of  Freemasons,  has  now  been  withdrawn. 
The  original  rates  of  pay  have,  of  course,  been 
considerably  improved. 

Such  are  the  main  provisions  of  the  Act  setting 
up  the  Irish  Constabulary,  and  the  Force  may  be 
said  to  date  its  foundation  from  this  Act.  Since 
its  establishment  the  Force  has  been  the  back- 
bone of  law  and  order  in  Ireland,  through  all 
the  troubled  years  that  have  elapsed  since  that 
date.  A  Special  Correspondent  of  the  MomiTig 
Post  of  17th  November,  1920,  in  the  course  of  an 
article  dealing  with  the  Force,  states  the  matter 
in  a  nutshell. 

**  From  the  first  the  Irish  Constabulary  have 
had  semi -military  duties  to  perform.  Crisis 
after  crisis  has  brought  them  into  collision  with 

s 


274      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

a  brave  and  excitable  populace.  The  clash  of 
creeds,  the  war  of  races,  the  conflict  of  rival 
policies  and  interests,  the  intrigues  of  exiles  and 
aliens,  have  kept  the  island  in  a  chronic  state  of 
unrest;  and  all  the  time  the  police  have  been 
expected  to  keep  order.  The  crushing  of  two 
other  rebellions  stands  to  their  credit,  and  in  the 
wild  days  of  the  Emancipation  movement,  of 
the  Tithe  War,  of  the  Young  Ireland  rising,  of 
the  Fenian  outburst,  and  of  the  Land  League 
War,  it  was  the  police  who  had  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  the  struggle.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  the 
R.I.C.  is  a  semi-military  force,  armed  and 
drilled  and  concentrated  in  those  little  barrack 
forts  that  are  the  blockhouses  of  Imperial  rule  in 
Ireland." 

The  Force  acquired  its  designation  "Royal  " 
from  Queen  Victoria  in  1867,  in  recognition  of 
the  conspicuous  bravery  and  loyalty  displayed 
by  the  Force  in  the  suppression  of  the  Fenian 
Rising.    . 

The  condition  of  the  country  during  1920  was 
no  new  experience  for  the  Force,  it  was  merely 
an  extreme  aggravation  of  a  condition  which  was 
almost  chronic.  The  Republicans  had  the  wit  to 
see  that  if  they  were  to  succeed  in  their  mad 
scheme  of  driving  the  British  out  of  Ireland  the 
R.I.C.  was  the  first  obstacle  to  be  removed  from 
their  path.  During  the  latter  months  of  1919, 
therefore,  they  began  a  campaign  of  murder 
directed  against  the  members  of  the  Force,  which 
was  pursued  with  the  utmost  rigour. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  campaign  of  outrage  and 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  275 

intimidation  carried  out  by  the  Volunteers  was 
bound  to  have  a  prejudicial  effect  upon  the 
recruitment  of  the  Force.  It  was  not  so  much 
that  prospective  recruits  feared  for  their  own 
safety,  notwithstanding  the  number  that 
suffered  outrage  at  the  hands  of  their  cowardly 
assailants.  The  campaign  of  intimidation 
stretched  out  far  beyond  the  recruit  himself.  A 
man  might  be  able  to  protect  his  own  person,  but 
he  could  not  always  protect  his  family.  The 
Volunteers  made  a  practice  of  concentrating 
their  forces  against  the  relations  of  a  recruit, 
proclaiming  a  boycott  of  them  and  even  assault- 
ing those  whom  they  suspected  of  being  able  to 
bring  influence  to  bear  upon  him  to  resign. 
Threatening  letters  have  been  received  by  rela- 
tives of  constables,  the  surrounding  population 
has  shunned  them,  fearing  to  incur  the  wrath  of 
local  sympathisers  with  the  Republicans;  in  fact 
their  position  has  become  virtually  that  of  lepers. 
And  not  only  the  relatives  of  men  in  the  Force, 
but  anyone  suspected  by  the  Volunteers  of  inter- 
course with  the  police  has  been  made  to  suffer. 
For  instance,  on  the  4th  July,  1920,  a  party  of 
armed  men  raided  a  house  in  County  Sligo  and 
fired  at  the  occupant  with  a  shot-gun,  giving  as 
their  reason  the  suspicion  that  he  was  "  not 
sufficiently  unfriendly  with  the  police." 

Tl^e  measures  adopted  by  the  Volunteers 
against  the  police  are  sufficient  indication  of  the 
efficieiicy  of  the  Force  and  of  the  consequent  fear 
and  hatred  it  inspires  among  the  ranks  of  the 
Republicans.      In  the  edition  oi  An  T'Oglac 


276      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

dated  the  15th  July,  1920,  appears  an  article 
which,  in  speaking  of  '  the  enemy,'  that  is  to  say 
the  British  Government,  mentions  "  his  first 
instrument  of  executive  power,  his  eyes,  ears,  and 
right  arm,  theR.I.C." 

A  '  General  Order  '  of  Oglaich  na  h'Eireann 
(the  Irish  Volunteers),  numbered  1920  (New 
Series)  No.  6,  and  issued  from  '  General  Head- 
quarters '  on  the  4th  June,  1920,  is  headed 
BOYCOTT  OF  R.I.C.,  and  is  as  follows. 

"  Volunteers  shall  have  no  intercourse  with 
the  R.I.C.,  and  shall  stimulate  and  support  in 
every  way  the  boycott  of  this  force  ordered  by 
the  Dail. 

"  Those  persons  who  associate  with  the  R.I.C. 
shall  be  subjected  to  the  same  boycott,  and  the 
fact  of  their  association  with  and  toleration  of 
this  infamous  force  shall  be  kept  public  in  every 
possible  way.  Definite  lists  of  such  persons  in  the 
area  of  his  command,  shall  be  prepared  and  re- 
tained by  each  Company,  Battalion  and  Brigade 
Commander. 

By  Order 

ADJUTANT  GENERAL." 

But  the  campaign  of  the  Volunteers  against 
the  police  is  not  limited  to  measures  of  boycott. 
In  a  previous  chapter  some  account  has  been  given 
of  the  constant  succession  of  murders  of  police 
which  have  disgraced  Ireland.  The  men  of  the 
R.I.C.  have  been  harassed  in  every  conceivable 
way.  They  have  been  murdered,  boycotted  and 
illtreated ;  their  families  have  been  made  to  suffer 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  277 

for  their  loyalty  in  every  possible  way.  The 
very  barradc  servants  have  been  beaten  and 
insulted,  the  policy  of  violence  has  been  extended 
even  to  those  whose  only  offence  is  that  of 
having  been  seen  speaking  to  a  policeman. 
Threatening  letters  have  been  sent  to  members  of 
the  Force  by  the  score,  letters  which  usually  only 
serve  to  show  the  futility  of  their  opponents' 
methods.  It  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that 
under  these  circumstances  Irishmen,  however 
loyal  they  might  be,  hesitated  to  enlist  in  the 
Force,  knowing  the  dangers  and  inconveniences 
which  they  would  bring  upon  themselves  and 
their  acquaintances  by  so  doing. 

The  result  was  that  the  supply  of  recruits 
failed  to  keep  pace  with  the  demand,  and  the 
Grovernment  decided  to  draw  upon  a  fresh 
source  of  supply.  Recruiting  for  the  Force  was 
therefore  opened  in  England  on  1st  January, 
1920,  and  it  soon  became  obvious  that  service  in 
the  Constabulary  had  great  attractions  for  a 
large  number  of  young  Englishmen.  Ex-service 
men  in  particular  found  the  life  congenial  and 
attractive,  and  so  great  was  the  flow  of  recruits 
that  the  authorities  found  themselves  enabled  to 
exercise  considerable  choice  in  the  selection  of 
candidates.  In  fact,  far  from  Republican 
intimidation  being  able  to  deplete  the  ranks  of 
the  Force,  so  many  recruits  were  obtained  that 
hy  October,  1920,  the  total  strength  of  the 
R.I.C.,  not  including  the  Auxiliary  Division,  to 
which  reference  will  be  made  later,  was  greater 
than  at  any  time  einoe  1912.     During  this  time 


278      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  rate  of  increase  was  such  that  approximately 
sixteen  recruits  were  added  to  the  Force  for  every 
three  losses  caused  by  resignation  or  otherwise. 
The  actual  figures  for  a  typical  week  in  this 
month  are  as  follows  : — 

Regular  Force  (not  including  Auxiliary  Division). 

Total  strength   on  3rd  October,  1920       10,208 

Deaths  during  week     ...       2 

Retirements       ...  ...       4 

Resignations      ...  ...     66 

Dismissals  ...         ...       8 

Tot^l   Wastage      ...     80 

Recruits  during  week 

Ireland  ...         ...       6 

Great  Britain 329 

Total     Recruitment  335 

Net  Increase  ...        255 


Total  strength  on  10th  October,  1920       10,463 

The  total  strength  on  31st  December,  1920, 
was  12,755. 

With  recruits  coming  in  at  this  rate,  it  was 
impossible  for  a  time  to  secure  sufficient 
quantities  of  the  dark  green  uniform  of  the 
Force  with  which  to  clothe  them.  The  R.I.C. 
was  therefore  compelled  to  look  for  some  other 
source  of  uniform  with  which  to  equip  its 
recruits  imtil  the  temporary  deficiency  of  its  own' 
clothing  could  be  made  good.  The  most  natural 
source  of  supply  was  the  store  of  service  dress 
in  the  possession  of  the  military  authorities. 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  279 

The  recruits  were  fitted  out  with  Constabulary 
uniform  as  far  as  possible,  and  any  shortcomings 
were  made  good  with  service  dress.  The  result 
was  that  they  appeared  in  a  strange  medley  of 
khaki  and  dark  green,  with  perhaps  a  khaki 
tunic  and  trousers,  a  dark  green  cap,  and  black 
accoutrements.  This  hybrid  dress  acquired  for 
the  recruits  their  now  familiar  nickname.  At 
Limerick  there  was  once  a  famous  pack  of 
hounds  known  locally  as  the  '  Black  and  Tans,' 
and  upon  the  appearance  of  the  first  members  of 
the  R.I.C.  dressed  in  their  unfamiliar  costumes, 
the  inhabitants  promptly  applied  to  them  the 
familiar  title. 

But  the  mixture  of  military  and  police  uniform 
had  another  result,  and  perhaps  a  more  serious 
one.  It  gave  the  impression  that  the  men  were 
not  members  of  the  R.I.C,  in  the  sense  of  being 
regular  constables  as  heretofore.  It  was  thought 
by  some  that  their  uniforms  indicated  that  they 
were  a  quasi-military  force,  half  soldiers,  half 
policemen,  and  that  they  were  under  the  control 
of  the  Military  Authorities.  This  impression 
died  hard,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  still 
exists  in  many  of  the  country  districts  of  Ireland, 
although  by  the  end  of  the  year  all  deficiencies  of 
uniform  had  been  made  good,  and  the  men  had 
been  equipped  with  the  standard  kit.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  this  belief  was  the  cause  of  a  certain 
amount  of  distrust  displayed  towards  the  men  by 
well-disposed  but  ignorant  people,  who  had 
always  been  on  excellent  terms  with  the  members 
of  the  Force  until  this  time. 


280      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

On  Tuesday,  12th  October,  1920,  the  Chief 
Secretary  inspected  a  draft  of  some  three 
hundred  R.I.C.  recruits  at  Grormanstown  Depot, 
some  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Dublin,  and  on 
this  occasion  they  certainly  presented  an 
extraordinary  appearance,  wearing  a  mixture  of 
dark  green  and  khaki,  with,  in  some  cases, 
civilian  head-gear.  But  beneath  this  curious 
dress  they  were  a  very  fine  body  of  men,  showing 
intense  enthusiasm  for  their  new  profession,  and 
a  degree  of  intelligence  that  was  a  distinct 
menace  to  the  criminal  designs  of  the 
Republicans.  Here  is  an  extract  from  the  Chief 
Secretary's  speech  on  this  occasion  : — 

* '  Your  first  duty  will  be  to  prevent  crime,  and 
your  second  to  detect  the  criminal.  You  know  as 
well  as  I  do  the  difficult  times  through  which 
Ireland  is  now  passing,  and  I  would  urge  each 
one  of  you  to  do  his  best  to  live  up  to  the 
traditions  of  the  different  units  in  which  you  have 
so  honourably  served  during  the  late  great  war. 

*'  I  also  urge  you  to  remember  that  it  is  your 
duty  and  mine,  and  the  soldiers  who  are  assisting 
us,  to  serve  to  the  best  of  our  ability  the  well- 
diepoeed  and  loyal  people.  The  great  majority 
of  Irish  people  throughout  this  island  want 
peace,  need  peace,  and  pray  for  peace.  But  there 
is  a  small  minority  who  are  prepared  to  murder 
you,  and  murder  me,  and  murder  everyone  who 
wants  to  restore  peace  and  maintain  order  in 
this  splendid  old  country.  It  is  our  duty  to 
prevent  them  from  committing  crime,  to  detect 
them,  to  arrest  them  according  to  the  law  of  this 
land." 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  281 

Side  by  side  with  the  regular  R.I.C.  a  body 
of  Temporary  Cadets  has  been  formed  into  an 
organisation  known  as  the  Auxiliary  Division 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary.  It  was  found 
that  the  Volunteers,  in  pursuance  of  their  policy 
of,  making  war  upon  the  Force,  had  embarked 
upon  an  organised  campaign  of  attacks  upon 
their  barracks.  These  barracks  had  not  originally 
been  built  with  a  view  to  their  withstanding 
such  attacks  in  force,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
put  them  into  a  suitable  state  of  defence,  by  the 
employment  of  barbed  wire,  steel  shutters,  and 
other  strictly  military  devices.  The  materials 
for  this  purpose  were  procured,  but  it  was  found 
that  the  regular  members  of  the  R.I.C.  (which,  it 
must  always  be  borne  in  mind,  is  primarily  a 
police,  as  opposed  to  a  military,  Force)  had  no 
experience  in  the  proper  utilisation  of  this 
material.  In  July,  1920,  therefore,  the 
authorities  decided  to  enrol  five  hundred 
ex-officers,  of  the  highest  military  and  personal 
records,  to  act  as  the  advisers  of  the  regular 
members  of  the  Force  on  matters  of  defence. 
These  men  were  enlisted  as  Temporary  Cadets, 
on  a  short  service  system,  and  were  given  pay  at 
the  rate  of  £1  per  day,  with  certain  allowances 
in  addition.  They  were  also  awarded  the 
standing  of  Sergeant  in  the  R.I.C.  The 
experiment  proved  extremely  successful,  and  the 
original  establishment  of  five  hundred  was 
enlarged.  At  the  same  time  the  value  of  a 
mobile  force  of  specially  trained  police  was 
recognised,    and   the    Temporary    Cadets    were 


282      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

organised  into  companies,  commanded  by  their 
own  officers,  and  equipped  with  the  form  of 
transport  which  had  been  found  so  useful  by  the 
Royal  Air  Force,  namely,  Crossley  tenders. 
These  consist  of  a  Crossley  motor  chassis  fitted 
with  a  wagonette  body,  and  they  are  capable 
of  carrying  eight  to  ten  men  with  their 
equipment. 

The  Auxiliary  Division  may  be  regarded  as 
a  striking  force,  kept  in  reserve  for  use  in 
disturbed  areas  in  aid  of  the  regular  police,  and 
operating  in  Companies  under  the  orders  of  the 
District  and  County  Inspectors.  The  new  body 
became  exceedingly  popular  among  ex-officers,  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  recruiting  authorities 
were  enabled  to  select  their  men  very  carefully. 
The  Auxiliaries  became,  in  fact,  a  corjps  d'ilite, 
composed  only  of  such  officers  as  could  show  the 
highest  credentials.  For  this  reason  they  became 
the  terror  of  evil-doers,  whose  sympathisers  did 
their  best  to  discredit  them  by  every  sort  of 
malicious  misrepresentation.  But  in  spite  of  its 
calumniators,  the  Auxiliary  Division  grew  and 
prospered  to  an  extraordinary  extent.  The 
figures  of  its  enlistment  for  the  last  week  of  1920 
are  instructive.    They  are  as  follows  : — 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  283 

Stren^h  on  26th  December,   1920   ...     1,154 
Resignations      ...         ...       8 

Discharged    on    medical 

grounds       ...         ...       2 

Dismissed       ...         ...  1 

Total  Wastage     ...     11 

Recruits  during  the  week     84 

Net  Increase  ...  73 


Strength    on    2nd    January,    1921    ...     1,227 

A  typical  illustration  of  the  Auxiliary 
Division  is  afforded  by  the  following  account  of 
an  inspection,  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  of  a 
Company  of  the  Division  at  the  Vice-regal 
Lodge,  Phoenix  Park,  Dublin,  on  the  morning  of 
the  14th  October,  1920. 

**  The  unit  marched  through  Dublin  headed 
by  the  R.I.C.  band,  and  made  a  very  favourable 
impression.  Their  uniform  and  equipment  is 
novel,  but  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  Division.  The  men  wear  large  tam-o-shanter 
scotch  bonnets,  on  which  is  the  crowned  harp, 
the  badge  of  the  R.I.C.  Their  tunics,  breeches 
and  puttees  are  khaki,  and  their  accoutrements, 
of  black  leather,  consist  of  a  bandolier  worn 
across  the  chest,  a  belt,  with  bayonet  and 
scabbard,  and  a  revolver,  carried  not  on  the  belt 
but  in  the  American  manner,  in  an  open  holster 
lying  on  the  right  thigh.  The  men  in  the  ranks 
are  armed  with  rifles,  and  a  machine-gun  section 
is  attached  to  each  Company.  The  men  made  an 
excellent  and  soldier-like  appearance  on  parade. 


284      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Many  of  them  had  decorations  in  addition  to 
war  medals,  and  special  distinctions  of  all  kinds 
were  in  evidence.  His  Excellency  inspected  the 
men,  who  then  formed  a  hoUow  square  while  he 
addressed  them.  The  proceedings  terminated 
with  a  march  past,  at  which  His  Excellency 
took  the  salute." 

Lord  French's  speech  on  this  occasion  was  as 
follows : — 

"  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  to  express  the 
pleasure  it  has  given  me  to  see  you  here  to-day, 
and  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  very  fine 
appearance  which  you  present.  You  have  all 
served  as  officers  in  that  magnificent  Army  which 
saved  the  Empire  from  destruction  in  the  most 
critical  and  dangerous  years  of  its  history,  and 
I  am  personally  proud  to  know  that  I  can  claim 
many  of  you  as  comrades  in  the  field  during  the 
earlier  period  of  the  war.  Arduous  and  perilous 
as  that  splendid  service  was,  you  have  once  more 
offered  yourselves  for  service  which  is  not  free 
from  either  hardship  or  peril.  You  have  taken 
up  the  duty  of  assisting  and  supporting  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary  in  putting  down 
rebellion  and  re-establishing  law  and  order 
throughout  Ireland.  To  strengthen  and  support 
such  a  magnificent  Force  as  the  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary  is  a  task  worthy  of  soldiers  who 
have  proved  their  prowess  and  mettle  on  many 
a  bloodstained  field  of  battle.  I  have  myself 
many  times  in  the  last  two  or  three  years 
acknowledged  publicly  the  bravery,  skill  and 
discipline  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  and 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  285 

their  work  was  eloquently  and  worthily  eulogised 
by  the  Chief  Secretary  only  a  week  or  two  ago,* 
and  I  wish  to  say  how  heartily  I  concur  with 
every  word  which  fell  from  him  then. 

**  The  work  which  lies  before  you  is  arduous 
and  difficult,  because  it  demands  the  exercise  of 
so  many  different  qualities.  You  have  all  shown 
yourselves  to  be  possessed  of  courage,  energy, 
skill  and  discipline,  in  a  very  high  degree,  but 
in  the  performance  of  the  duties  which  lie  before 
you  tact,  judgment  and  self-restraint  are  also 
required,  and  I  feel  sure  that  you  will  in  this 
respect  as  in  all  others  act  up  to  the  glorious 
record  you  have  established  in  the  field.  You 
may  resft  assured  that  in  carrying  out  that  work 
you  will  have  the  good- will,  sympathy,  and  active 
support  of  every  loyal  subject  of  the  King,  in 
Ireland  or  elsewhere. ' ' 

Some  idea  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 
police  lived  in  Ireland  during  the  year  may  be 
gathered  from  the  account  which  has  already 
been  given  of  the  outrages  committed  upon  them. 
It  would  be  hard  to  imagine  any  type  of  existence 
which  could  be  more  trying  to  morale,  or  more 
wearing  to  the  nerves  of  individuals.  A  few 
indeed  have  found  themselves  unable  to  endure 
the  strain,  and  have  resigned  in  consequence. 
But,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  the  flow  of 
recruits  has  been  far  more  than  sufficient  to 
make  good  this  wastage.  It  is  the  finest  possible 
tribute  to  the  traditions  of  the  Force  and  to  the 

*  On  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of  medals  to  members 
of    the    R.I.C.    in    Phoenix    Park    on    30th    September,    1920. 


286      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

character  of  its  members  that  the  morale  of  the 
R.I.C.  is  as  good  if  not  better  now,  after  an 
unexampled  period  of  murderous  persecution, 
than  it  has  been  during  any  other  period  of  its 
existence. 

The  following  circular  letter  shows  how 
carefully  the  republican  conspiracy  against  the 
Force  was  thought  out : — 

OGLAIG  NA  h'EIREANN. 

General  Headquarters, 
Dublin. 
1st  November,  1919. 
"  To  Brigade  Commandant, 

' '  In  order  better  to  organise  and  supervise  the 
getting  of  all  information,  Brigade  Com- 
mandants will  have  appointed  at  once  a 
Brigade  Captain  of  Intelligence,  and  Battalion 
Lieutenants  of  Intelligence,  for  each  of  his 
Battalions,  and  Company  Captains  will  appoint 
a  Volunteer  to  co-ordinate  the  Company 
information  for  him. 

"  Forms  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4  and  5  ( copies  of 

each)  are  sent  you  herewith.  Their  use  will 
standardise  the  form  of  record  of  information 
which  at  present  in  different  Brigade  Areas  is 
kept  in  different  forms.  Together  with  a  copy 
of  this  instruction,  they  should  be  placed 
without  delay  in  the  hands  of  all  your  Company 
Captains,  and  of  your  Outpost  men  in  such 
Parishes  or  Church  Areas  in  which  a  Company 
has  not  yet  been  formed. 

"  Company  Captains  and  Outpost  men  should 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  287 

be  made  responsible  for  the  complete  compilation, 
without  delay,  of  the  information  of  their  own 
Areas,  and  Brigade  Commandants,  will  be 
responsible  that  the  compilation  is  complete  for 
their  whole  Brigade  Areas. 

*'  Forms  1,  2,  3  and  4  should  be  prepared  by 
Captains  and  Outpost  men  in  triplicate,  and  the 
copies  should  be  filed  by  the  Brigade  and 
Battalion  Commandant,  who  should  make  proper 
arrangements  for  having  their  records  kept  up 
to  date  and  summarised. 

*'  Form  1  is  intended  to  indicate  a  comparison 
between  the  available  material  of  military  age, 
and  Volunteers,  and  Enemy  Forces. 

"  Form  2  is  intended  to  indicate  in  a  simple 
way  full  particulars  of  the  Military  Forces. 

"  Form  3,  ditto  for  Police  Force.  N.B. — 
Where  such  is  not  done  already,  one  good  man 
should  be  allocated  to  each  Barracks  or  Station, 
and  his  duty  should  be  to  get  plans  of  the 
Barracks,  etc,  and  details  of  its  whole  internal 
life. 

*'  Form  4  is  intended  to  indicate  those  persons 
other  than  the  Military  and  Police  who  go  to 
form  the  actual  machinery  of  oppression  in  the 
country,  i.e.,  R.M's,  J.P's,  Crown  Solicitors, 
and  all  Agents  and  spies  of  the  English 
Government,  Official  or  Unofficial,  active  or 
inactive. 

**  Form  5  indicates  the  form  of  a  record  which 
should  be  kept  in  respect  of  (1)  every  policeman, 
and  (2)  every  person  classed  as  hostile  or 
aggressive  in  Form  4.    The  record  should  be  kept 


288      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

in  Book  Form,  loose  leaf  if  possible,  ruled  as 
indicated  in  the  form.  This  record  should  be 
made  retrospect  ire. 

'  *  Company  Captains  and  Outpost  men  should 
make  a  review  of  the  population  in  their  Area, 
and  note  and  record  all  persons  capable  of  helping 
them  in  any  way.  In  this  connection  it  is 
remarked  that  all  young  men  are  potential 
Volunteers,  and  any  of  them  who  have  influence, 
or  ability,  or  qualification  likely  to  make  them 
useful  to  us,  should  be  specially  kept  under 
notice.  Reference  should  be  made  to  the  '  Voters' 
Lists  '  in  this  connection. 

"  The  standardising  of  information  records 
has  been  unduly  delayed  and  this  instruction 
should  be  given  effect  to  at  once. 
By  Order, 

DEPUTY  CHIEF  OF  STAFF." 

The   only   one   of    these    forms   which    need 
concern  us  here  is  number  3.      The  headings  of 
this  form  are  interesting.  They  are  as  follows  : — 
"  Date. 
Name  of  Company  or  Outpost  Area. 
Name  of  Barracks  or  Station. 
Number  of  Constables. 
Number  of  other  officers. 
Beats  or  Patrols. 
Time. 
From. 
To. 

Number  in  Patrol. 
Area  covered. 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  289 

Plans  filed  (yes  or  no). 

Espionage  arranged  (yes  or  no). 

Remarks. ' ' 
It  is  obvious  from  this  that  the  murder  of 
police  was  part  of  a  deliberate  and  well  thought 
out  scheme. 

Let  us  try  to  form  a  mental  picture  of  the  life 
of  the  average  constable  at  the  height  of  the 
outrage  campaign.  He  lived  in  a  fortified 
barrack,  probably  overcrowded  owing  to  the 
concentration  of  the  Force,  and  certainly  never 
designed  to  resist  determined  assault  with 
modern  weapons.  He  was  surrounded  by  a 
populace  which,  if  not  definitely  hostile,  was  at 
all  events  so  intimidated  that  the  members  of 
the  civil  population  hardly  dare  be  seen  speaking 
to  him.  Lurking  throughout  the  countryside 
were  the  members  of  the  Republican  Army,  who, 
instigated  by  their  leaders,  regarded  him  as  an 
enemy  not  to  be  faced  in  the  open  but  to  be 
persecuted  by  every  means  from  petty  annoyance 
to  treacherous  murder.  His  life  was  spent  in 
constant  apprehension  of  danger.  His  barracks 
might  be  attacked  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night, 
but  usually  the  latter,  by  overwhelming  numbers 
of  callous  rufiians,  who  would  use  every  weapon 
of  brutality  against  him.  If  he  would  go  out  of 
barracks,  he  was  compelled  to  do  so  as  one  of  a 
party  operating  in  practically  an  enemy's 
country.  He  could  never  predict  the  moment 
when  a  hail  of  bullets  would  burst  upon  him  from 
a  carefully  prepared  ambush,  his  assailants  being 
the  apparently  harmless  citizens  who  surrounded 

T 


290      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

him  every  day.  Every  means  v^^as  employed  to 
tempt  him  from  his  allegiance.  Letters  reached 
him  warning  him  to  resign  if  he  wished  to 
escape  the  death  penalty,  and  in  some  cases 
guaranteeing  him  employment  under  Republican 
auspices  if  he  did  so. 

In    this    connection    the    following    circular, 
which  was  widely  distributed  through  the  post 
during  the  latter  days  of  September,   1920,   is 
interesting  : — 
"  A  Chara, 

"  At  the  present  moment  a  large  number  of 
R.I.C.  have  left  the  Force  owing  to  their 
repugnance  to  the  outrages  that  are  taking  place 
and  in  which  they  are  required  to  take  part. 
Some  of  these  men  have  narrowly  escaped  with 
their  lives.  In  one  case,  of  which  I  have  the 
details,  a  man  was  dismissed  for  refusing  to 
participate  in  sacking  a  town,  and  was  fired  at 
on  leaving  the  barracks. 

' '  These  men,  whether  they  were  dismissed  for 
refusing  to  carry  out  instructions  or  whether  they 
resigned  as  a  protest,  are  now  without  any  means 
of  support. 

"  I  am  addressing  this  to  you  as  I  believe  you 
to  be  one  who  would  object  on  principle  to  the 
outrages  on  the  people  that  are  taking  place, 
and  that  you  would  view  with  horror  the  burning 
of  creameries  and  homesteads,  and  burning  and 
looting  towns,  and  the  daily  terrors  the  people 
have  to  suffer  from  the  callous  shootings  from 
which  so  many  have  lost  their  lives. 

* '  In  expectation  of  your  being  willing  to  come 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  291 

to  the  aid  of  men  victimised  because  they  would 
not  allow  themselves  to  be  used  for  such  work,  I 
vrrite  to  ask  you  to  co-operate  with  me  in  finding 
work  for  these  men,  and  I  would  ask  you,  if  there 
are  any  vacant  jobs  under  your  patronage  for 
which  they  would  be  suitable,  to  communicate 
with  me. 

"  The  majority  of  these  men  seek  employment 
as  clerks,  agricultural  workers,  stewards,  watch- 
men, agents,  motor  drivers,  caretakers,  etc. 
Miso  do  Chara, 

CONSTANCE  DE   MARKIEVICZ. 

"  Please  reply  to  the  Secretary,  General 
Employment  Agency,  61,  Highfield  Road, 
Rathgar,  Dublin." 

This  document  is  headed  *'  Dublin,  September, 
1920,"  and  was  presumably  signed  by  Countess 
Markievicz  in  her  capacity  as  '  Minister  of 
Labour  '  of  Dail  Eireann. 

In  commenting  upon  this  circular  the  Morning 
Post  remarked  :  "  A  circular  .  .  .  which  is 
in  reality  designed  as  an  appeal  for  funds  in  aid 
of  Sinn  Fein,  though  it  appears  on  the  surface  to 
be  a  benevolent  effort  on  behalf  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Constabulary.  The  signature  is  apparently 
impressed  by  a  rubber  stamp.  Nobody  but  a 
member  of  Sinn  Fein  will  believe  that  the. 
constables  are  ordered  by  their  officers  to  commit 
outrages  on  pain  of  dismissal ;  and  the  suggestion 
that  men  ostensibly  resign  because  they  cannot 
face  the  strain  of  organised  ambush  and  murder, 
but  really  as  a  protest  against  these  '  orders,'  is 
just  the  kind  of  false  statement  which  is  so 


292      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

sedulously  spread  in  America  and  in  the 
Dominions.  Its  authors  apparently  rely  on  the 
short  memory  of  the  average  man.  Yet  scarcely 
anybody  who  reads  the  newspapers  can  be 
ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  declared  policy  of 
the  Irish  '  Republic  '  is  to  deprive  every 
constable  of  his  life  or  of  his  livelihood.  More- 
over, Countess  Markievicz  is  a  woman  who  was 
condemned  to  death  for  her  share  in  the  Dublin 
Rebellion  of  1916,  when  wounded  soldiers  back 
from  France  were  butchered  in  the  streets  of 
the  Irish  capital ;  is  a  prominent  member  of  Sinn 
Fein,  which  is  responsible  for  so  many  murders 
of  policemen;  and  has  never  by  a  single  word 
indicated  that  she  disapproves  of  these  crimes. 
If  she  is  so  desirous  to  recompense  men  of  the 
R.I.C.  who  have  been  driven  to  resign  by  Sinn 
Fein  terrorism  she  has  a  ready  means  of  showing 
it.  Sinn  Fein  is  itself  abundantly  provided  with 
funds  and  could  easily  spare  money  to  aid  the 
victims  of  its  murderous  methods." 

The  suggestion  that  men  were  dismissed  or 
called  upon  to  resign  for  refusing  to  take  part  in 
reprisals  is  of  course  absurd.  Such  dismissals 
as  took  place  were  for  misconduct  alone,  and 
resignations  have  been  due  to  a  variety  of  causes, 
mainly  personal. 

One  result  of  the  state  of  disturbance  existing 
in  Ireland  was  that  the  police,  practically 
confined  to  their  barracks  in  many  districts,  were 
unable  to  obtain  news  except  through  the  medium 
of  local  newspapers,  whose  descriptions  of  events 
were  almost  always  tinged  with  the  colour  of 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  293 

hostility  towards  the  Forces  of  the  Crown.  In 
order  to  provide  them  with  an  unbiased  summary 
of  news,  the  police  authorities  produced  a  news- 
sheet  of  four  pages,  know  as  the  Weekly 
Summary,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  extracts 
from  the  leading  British  and  Irish  newspapers. 
This  publication  was  purely  for  free  and  private 
circulation  in  police  barracks,  and  was  not  for 
sale.  The  first  number  is  dated  13th  August, 
1920. 

This  paper  was  eagerly  welcomed  by  the 
members  of  the  Force,  and  has  been  of 
considerable  value  in  providing  them  with  a 
wider  range  of  information  than  that  contained 
in  the  local  Irish  Press.  A  single  extract  from 
it  must  sufiSce  as  an  illustration,  and  for  that 
purpose  we  may  select  its  *  leader  '  of  1st 
October,  condemning  reprisals  : — 

**  POLICE     AND     PUBLIC. 

The  Police  Force  is  the  guardian  of  the  law. 

The  *  Irish  Republican  Army  '  is  a  criminal 
organisation. 

It  has  declared  war  on  the  law. 

Its  first  aim  is  avowedly  the  destruction  of  the 
Police  Forces  in  Ireland. 

The  Police,  who  see  their  friends  and  comrades 
foully  murdered,  sufier  intense  provocation,  but 
they  must  continue  to  maintain,  in  spite  of 
this  provocation,  that  self-control  which  has 
characterised  them  in  the  past. 

The  Police  will  thus  earn  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  Ireland  and  the  world  at  large. 


294      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

The  Police  exists  for  the  welfare  of  Ireland 
and  to  lift  her  from  the  terror  of  the  pistol. 

The  destruction  of  factories,  houses,  and  other 
buildings  only  impoverishes  Ireland. 

Do  not  hurt  Ireland. 

Put  out  the  '  murder  gang  '  and  free  her  from 
the  thraldom  of  terror. 

To  hunt  down  the  murderers  is  the  paramount 
duty  of  the  Police. 

The  Police  Force  is  the  guardian  of  the  law." 

This  staccato  admonition  is  typical  of  the 
general  tone  of  the  little  paper.  For  the  rest, 
each  number  consists  of  interesting  extracts  from 
other  papers,  such  as  might  be  expected  to 
interest  the  members  of  the  Force. 

In  addition  to  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary, 
there  are  two  other  Police  Forces  in  Ireland. 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  the  Act  of 
William  IV.  (Drummond's  Act)  already  quoted 
(page  270)  specifically  excludes  Dublin  from  the 
territory  in  which  the  Constabulary  of  Ireland 
was  to  operate.  A  separate  Act  (6  and  7  William 
IV.  Cap  29)  of  4th  July,  1836,  provides  for  the 
setting  up  of  a  Police  Force  for  the  City  of 
Dublin.  This  Act  is  very  similar  in  its  terms  to 
the  Act  setting  up  the  Constabulary  of  Ireland. 

"  Whereas  it  is  expedient  to  substitute  a  new 
and  more  efficient  System  of  Police  within  the 
limits  of  the  District  of  Dublin  Metropolis,  and 
to  constitute  an  Office  of  Police,  which,  acting 
under   the  immediate  Authority   of   the   Chief 


THE    POLICE    FORCES.  295 

Secretary  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  shall  direct  and 
control  the  whole  of  such  new  System  of  Police 
within  those  limits  .  .  .  Be  it  enacted,  That 
a  sufficient  Number  of  fit  and  able  Men  shall  from 
Time  to  Time,  By  the  Directions  of  the  Chief 
Secretary  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  ...  be 
appointed  as  a  Police  Force  for  the  whole  of  such 
District,  who  shall  be  sworn  in  ...  to  act 
as  Constables  for  preserving  the  Peace,  and 
preventing  Robberies  and  other  Felonies,  and 
apprehending  offenders  against  the  Peace. 

"  And  be  it  enacted,  that  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  any  Man  belonging  to  the  said  Police  Force, 
during  the  Time  of  his  being  on  Duty,  to 
apprehend  all  loose,  idle,  and  disorderly  Persons 
whom  he  shall  find  disturbing  the  public  Peace, 
or  whom  he  shall  have  just  Cause  to  suspect  of 
any  evil  Designs." 

The  form  of  oath  to  be  taken  and  subscribed 
by  every  person  under  this  Act  is  similar  to  that 
to  be  taken  by  members  of  the  Constabulary  of 
Ireland. 

The  Force  so  set  up  is  knovsn  as  the  Dublin 
Metropolitan  Police.  The  Dublin  Police  District, 
which  comprises  the  City  of  Dublin  and  part  of 
the  County  of  'Dublin,  is  divided  into  six 
Divisions,  each  under  the  charge  of  a  superin- 
tendent of  Police.  The  population  of  *  Greater 
Dublin,'  approximating  to  the  Police  District, 
was  371,936  at  the  time  of  the  last  census  (1911). 

The  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police  is  maintained 
at  a  more  or  less  constant  strength,  with  very 
small  fluctuations.  Typical  weekly  figures  of 
recruitment  are  as  follows  : — 


296      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Strength  on  19th  October,  1920     ...     1,133 

Retirements            ...  ...       3 

Recruits : 

Great  Britain    ...  5 

Ireland    ...         ...  8 

—     13 

Net  increase  ...         ...          10 


Strength  on  26th  October,  1920     ...     1,143 


During  September,  1920,  it  was  decided  to 
form  a  Special  Constabulary  in  Ireland  in  order 
to  assist  in  dealing  with  the  abnormal  situation 
then  existing.  An  announcement  was  made 
during  that  month  that  the  Government  would 
enroll  well-disposed  citizens  for  this  purpose. 
On  22nd  October  a  statement  was  issued  outlining 
the  scheme  and  the  conditions  of  service.  The 
terms  of  this  statement  were  as  follows  : — 

The  scheme,  which  applies  to  the  whole  of 
Ireland,  will  be  brought  into  operation  area  by 
area  as  circumstances  may  require.  The  hrst 
Class  of  constable  is  Class  A — that  is  to  say  a 
whole-time  man  enlisted  to  serve  for  a  minimum 
period  of  six  months,  during  which  he  will  serve 
in  the  regular  Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  but  only 
within  the  divisional  area  wherein  he  is 
recruited.  These  men  get  uniform,  quarters  (or 
an  equivalent  rent  allowance),  pay  at  10s.  a  day, 
and  sundry  other  allowances,  making  the  total 
weekly  pay  £3  17s.  6d.  Married  men,  if 
required  to  live  in  barracks,  get  a  separation 
allowance   of    14s.    a   week,    and   sundry   rent 


THE    POLICE    FOECES.  297 

allowances  a(3Cordiiig  to  the  conditions  under 
which  they  serve.  After  approved  service,  a 
bounty  at  the  rate  of  £25  for  each  year's  service 
in  lieu  of  pension  rights  is  also  given,  and  in 
case  of  death  or  injuries  due  to  the  execution  of 
his  duties  a  special  constable  or  his  legal 
representatives  will  be  entitled  to  claim 
compensation  under  the  Criminal  Injuries 
(Ireland)  Act,  1919,  payment  of  the  award  being 
guaranteed  by  the  Government.  Arms  and 
equipment  will  be  similar  to  those  borne  by  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary. 

Membership  of  Class  B  entails  occasional  duty, 
usually  one  evening  per  week,  exclusive  of 
training  drills,  in  an  area  convenient  to  the 
member.  Day  duties  will  not  be  required  except 
in  emergency.  These  services  will  be  unpaid, 
but  a  £5  allowance  will  be  paid  for  each  six 
months  of  service,  to  cover  wear  and  tear  of 
clothes  and  boot-leather.  Caps  and  armlets  will 
be  provided,  but  arms  and  equipment  will  be 
determined  by  the  authority  of  the  county.  They 
will  usually  be  the  same  as  those  borne  by  the 
regular  police  of  the  district  at  the  time.  For 
each  drill  attended  in  excess  of  one  per  week 
2s.  6d.  will  be  paid.  This  class  will  be  under  its 
own  officers,  but  these  will  be  under  the  police 
authority  of  the  area  in  which  they  serve.  Class 
C  is  a  reserve.  Members  will  serve  in  a  district 
convenient  to  themselves,  and  will  be  called  on 
only  in  case  of  an  emergency.  They  draw  no 
pay  or  allowances,  and  do  only  occasional  drills. 

During  the  year  1920  this  new  Force  of  Special 


298      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Constabulary  was  established  only  in  Ulster,  but 
there  it  performed  most  useful  service,  and  the 
experience  in  police  duties  gained  by  its  members 
will  no  doubt  be  of  great  service  to  the 
authorities  of  the  Ulster  Government  when  the 
latter  is  set  up  under  the  Government  of  Ireland 
Act,  1920. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  REPRISALS. 

The  question  of  '  *  reprisals, ' '  as  they  have  been 
universally  termed,  is  one  that  caused  a  good  deal 
of  discussion  during  the  latter  months  of  1920. 
Reprisals  in  this  case  may  be  defined  as 
unauthorised  measures  taken  by  members  of  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  in  revenge  for  injuries 
inflicted  upon  them  by  disorderly  elements  of 
the  Irish  population. 

The  Press  has  devoted  considerable  space  to 
the  question,  and  the  occurrence  of  these  reprisals 
has  been  widely  condemned  throughout  the  world. 
In  many  cases  a  wholly  false  inference  has  been 
drawn  from  such  instances  of  reprisals  as  can 
be  substantiated.  Ireland  has  been  described  as 
suffering  under  a  terror  brought  about  by  the 
police  and  the  troops;  the  Government  of  Ireland 
has  been  accused  of  actual  complicity  in  this 
terror,  even  of  creating  and  encouraging  it.  It 
has  been  represented  that  the  discipline  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary  and  British  Army  in 
Ireland  has  completely  disappeared,  that  savage 
acts  by  members  of  these  forces  are  the  order  of 
the  day.  The  Republican  murder-gangs  are 
eulogised  as  patriots,  struggling  to  defend  their 


300      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

country  against  the  tyranny  of  brutal  English 
oppressors.  In  short,  Republican  sources  of 
information  have  so  distorted  the  facts  of  such 
reprisals  as  have  occurred  that  they  are  beyond 
recognition  and  even  credence. 

Now  let  us  examine  the  facts.  Enough  has 
been  placed  on  record  in  preceding  chapters  to 
show  the  conditions  obtaining  in  Ireland  during 
the  year  1920  and  the  outrages  there  committed. 
We  have  considered  the  objects  and  the 
achievements  of  the  Republican  organisations, 
and  we  have  touched  upon  the  constitution  and 
the  duties  of  the  forces  of  law  and  order.  We 
are  therefore  in  a  position  to  form  an  idea  of  the 
state  of  Ireland  during  1920,  and  to  estimate  the 
value  of  reports  emanating  from  Republican 
sources. 

Reprisals  have  occurred,  and  cannot  be 
sufficiently  deplored.  There  can  be  no  legitimate 
grounds  for  the  condonation  of  the  undisciplined 
acts  of  a  disciplined  force.  No  member  of  the 
Irish  Administration  has  at  any  time  approved 
or  condoned  these  acts,  and  every  possible 
measure  has  been  taken  to  prevent  their 
recurrence.  But  the  matter  of  reprisals  goes 
deeper  than  condemnation,  than  orders  and 
punishment.  It  goes  to  the  root  of  human 
nature.  However  perfect  discipline  may  be, 
however  rigorous  the  punishment  meted  out  to 
those  who  err  against  it,  there  must  always  be  a 
certain  number  of  men  in  every  Force  whose 
self-control  is  insufficient  to  restrain  them  from 
taking  vengeance  under  certain  circumstances. 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       301 

In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  deal  with  the  whole  question  of  reprisals,  and 
of  the  circumstances  which  have  led  up  to  them. 

One  of  the  most  widely  published  stories  of 
"  reprisals  "  dealt  with  the  occurrences  in  the 
three  villages  of  Milltown  Malbay,  Ennistymon 
and  Lahinch,  all  in  the  extreme  west  of  County 
Clare,  on  September  22nd,  1920.  Reports  were 
published  of  the  "  sacking  "  of  these  towns  by 
the  police,  and  of  the  general  misery  that  had 
been  caused  in  consequence.  The  actual  facts 
are  as  follows  : — 

By  the  morning  post  on  22nd  of  September  the 
police  at  Ennistymon  received  an  anonymous 
letter  which  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  Dear  Sir, — I  am  giving  you  a  warning  to 
make  your  men  look  out  for  themselves  for  the 
S.F.  is  going  to  make  a  raid  on  them  some  day. 
Let  your  men  look  out  and  the  two  officers  that  is 
going  by  themselves  in  the  black  motor.  They 
will  give  them  a  downfall  as  sure  as  you  are 
reading  this.  They  would  want  to  look  out  for 
themselves  :  we  cannot  stop  our  young  innocent 
sons.  Sure  the  leading  man  of  them  all  is  John 
O'Loughlin  the  man  that  is  going  to  all  the 
races,  why  he  has  plenty  of  powder  and  fire- 
arms. We  would  have  an  easy  mind  if  you  would 
frighten  those  murderers.  They  want  more 
blood.     .     .     ." 

The  letter  is  in  itself  one  of  the  most  valuable 
lights  that  could  have  been  thrown  upon  the^ 
situation  in  Ireland.  It  shows  how  the  older 
generation     regards     the     operations     of     the 


302      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Republican  Army,  and  the  impossibility  of 
controlling  the  younger  men.  But  we  must  leave 
it  in  order  to  continue  the  account  of  the  events 
that  followed. 

At  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  a  military 
non-commissioned  officer  in  Ennistymon  was 
given  a  hint  that  a  police  car  was  to  be  ambushed. 
He  went  straight  back  to  barracks  and  reported 
what  he  had  heard,  whereupon  a  party  of  troops 
was  dispatched  along  the  Milltown  Malbay  road 
with  instructions  to  examine  likely  positions  for 
ambushes.  Shortly  after  passing  a  place  called 
Lahinch,  where  the  roads  to  Milltown  and 
Liscannor  separate,  shots  were  heard  ahead. 
The  party  pushed  on  and  came  into  touch  with 
the  rebels  as  the  latter  were  scattering  inland. 
The  troops  came  under  fire  from  both  flanks  and 
the  driver  of  a  motor  lorry  was  wounded.  But  a 
Lewis  gun  was  brought  into  action  and  a  few 
minutes  later  a  second  small  party  of  troops  came 
up  in  support,  whereupon  the  rebels  scattered 
and  fled.  The  rebels  took  skilful  advantage  of 
cover  behind  banks,  whins  and  hedges. 

The  troops  now  came  back  to  the  road,  and  at 
a  point  where  the  road  is  about  twenty-five  yards 
from  the  railway  line  found  the  bodies  of  the 
victims  and  the  wrecked  car.  It  was  easy  to 
re-construct  the  tragedy.  Between  the  railway 
line  and  the  road  the  ambush  had  been  prepared 
with  boughs  and  other  cover  to  conceal  the 
assailants.  Behind  the  cover  hay  was  strewn, 
and  there  were  signs  of  a  regular  bivouac  which 
had  clearly  been  occupied  from  before  dawn. 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       303 

Hay  was  strewn  about  and  there  were  a  few 
haversacks  and  coats  as  well  as  some  bread  and 
some  meat  tins.  Empty  rifle  and  shot-gun 
cartridges  lay  about  and  also  sharp-nosed  bullets 
whereof  the  points  had  been  carefully  filed, 
converting  them  into  dumdums.  The  car,  which 
was  travelling  slowly  uphill  at  the  time  of  the 
assault,  had  been  hit  by  a  bullet  which  put  out 
of  action  the  two  front  cylinders  and  must  have 
stopped  it  at  once.  At  the  same  time  fire  was 
opened  on  the  police  from  some  fifty  rifle  and 
shot-guns.  Twelve-bore  cartridge  cases  and  wads 
showed  the  ammimition  used.  The  original 
wounds  caused  by  the  dumdum  bullets  were  bad 
enough,  but  the  bodies  showed  that  after  the  men 
had  fallen  the  criminals  had  further  fired  at 
their  victims  at  short  range  with  shot-guns. 
The  evidence  of  this  bestiality  was  indisputable. 
Search  was  made  for  the  body  of  a  missing 
constable,  but  it  was  not  found  until  next 
morning.  The  wounded  man  had  managed  to 
crawl  nearly  four  hundred  yards,  but  as  the 
tracks  showed  had  been  hunted  down  and 
butchered  in  cold  blood.  The  arrival  of  the 
troops  had  been  too  late  to  save  him. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  murderers  took  cover 
and  kept  up  a  fusillade  for  some  time,  under  the 
impression  of  course  that  the  first  military  party 
to  arrive  on  the  scene  consisted  only  of  a  few 
men  in  a  car.  During  the  fight  the  rebels  fired 
from  two  houses,  and  it  is  certain  that  the 
occupants  of  these  houses  not  only  were  fully 
aware  of  the  ambush  (they  could  not  have  avoided 


304      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

noticing  it)  but  also  deliberately  refrained  from 
giving  any  notice  thereof  as  they  certainly  could 
have  done.  However,  they  did  not  get  off  scot- 
free,  for  the  houses  were  set  on  fire  and  burned 
to  the  ground. 

There  were  other  people  who  could  have  given 
warning  and  did  not  do  so  and  who  are  therefore 
accessories  to  the  murders.  Two  trains  passed 
within  from  six  to  ten  feet  of  the  ambush,  every 
detail  of  which  must  have  been  visible  from  the 
line.  The  guard  and  driver  of  each  train  must 
have  known  of  the  ambush,  and  it  is  impossible 
that  some  of  the  station  officials  at  Milltown 
should  not  have  been  informed.  It  is  worth 
noting  that  a  priest  wearing  what  appeared  to  be 
military  medals  was  reported  to  have  formed  one 
of  the  ambush  party. 

The  murder  of  District  Inspector  Brady  near 
Tubbercurry  on  30th  September,  1920,  has 
already  been  dealt  with  (page  215).  Some 
quotations  from  a  report  made  at  the  time  are 
there  given.    The  report  continues  as  follows  : — 

'  *  The  police  who  had  come  from  Sligo  entered 
the  barracks  and  saw  the  dead  officer  on  the  floor. 
D.I.  Russell  was  getting  details  of  what 
happened  when  the  police  were  ambushed,  when 
he  suddenly  heard  shots  being  fired  outside  the 
barracks  and  battering  of  doors.  D.I.  Russell 
took  a  carbine  and  ran  out,  together  with  D.I. 
Dease  and  Lieutenant  Morrison.  He  found  that 
a  shop  next  the  barracks  belonging  to  a  Mr. 
Howley  had  been  broken  into  and  that  some  of 
the  police  and  soldiers  were  wrecking  it  and 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       305 

preparing  to  set  it  on  fire.  D.I.  Russell 
challenged  them  and  ordered  them  to  desist  and 
leave  the  premises,  and  the  military  officer  called 
on  his  men  to  do  the  same.  The  men  obeyed  the 
order  very  reluctantly  and  sullenly.  D.I.  Russell 
then  collected  his  men  and  told  them  there  was 
no  damage  to  be  committed  to  property.  This 
quietened  the  men  for  a  few  minutes  but  there 
was  a  good  deal  of  murmuring  and  grumbling, 
and  after  a  short  interval  some  of  the  men  broke 
away  and  were  followed  by  the  rest.  The  D.I. 
tried  to  get  them  back  but  his  efforts  were  of  no 
avail.  A  large  general  store  owned  by  a  Mr 
Cooke  was  set  fire  to.  At  this  time  the  men  had 
scattered  in  all  directions  and  there  was  a  great 
amount  of  rifle  firing  and  throwing  of  bombs 
and  shouting  by  the  men  to  the  Irish  Volunteers 
to  come  out  and  fight  them.  The  town  and 
surrounding  country  is  a  hot-bed  of  Iri^ 
Volunteers  of  the  worst  type.  Other  houses  were 
set  on  fire.  The  D.I.  appealed  to  the  men  over 
and  over  again  to  desist,  but  the  men  were  simply 
mad  with  passion  and  all  restraints  of  discipline 
were  thrown  to  the  winds.  The  turmoil  continued 
for  about  three  hours.  Finally  D.I.  Russell 
managed  by  appealing  to  some  of  the  police  who 
had  been  fired  at  to  get  their  comrades  to  desist, 
to  regain  control,  and  got  his  men  into  the  motor 
lorries.  He  then  went  to  give  some  directions 
to  D.I.  Dease  who  was  remaining  in  Tubber- 
curry,  and  while  he  was  doing  so  the  lorries 
started  off  and  went  to  Tubbercurry  Creamery, 
which  is  about  half  a  mile  from  the  town,  and  it 

u 


306      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

was  burned  down.  The  military  lorries  came 
back  shortly  after  the  lorries  left  Tubbercurry 
and  went  on  to  Sligo,  but  the  police  lorries  did 
not  return  for  about  an  hour.  D.I.  Russell  then 
managed  to  get  started  to  Sligo  at  about  5  a.m. 
He  was  in  the  rear  car.  When  the  first  car 
reached  Achonry  Creamery  about  four  miles  from 
Tubbercurry  the  two  cars  pulled  up,  and  in  spite 
of  the  D.I's  efforts  the  creamery  was  burnt  down. 
After  a  great  deal  of  persuasion  the  D.I. 
managed  to  get  his  men  to  resume  the  journey  to 
Sligo.  I  visited  Tubbercurry  on  morning  of  2nd 
instant  with  C.I.  Neylon  who  returned  off  leave 
on  1st  instant. 

"  The  following  shops  were  completely 
destroyed  :  E.  J.  Cooke's,  publican,  draper  and 
grocer;  Patrick  J.  Gallagher's,  publican  and 
grocer;  John  Coleman's,  grocer.  The  licensed 
premises  of  Kate  Armstrong,  Philip  Durkan  and 
M.  J.  Howley  were  partly  burned. 

**  Windows  were  broken  in  the  shops  and 
houses  of  the  following :  J.  Mullorkey,  H. 
Crydn,  Gallagher  Brothers,  Elizabeth  Morran, 
Bernard  Madden,  and  M.  J.  Howley,  and  Miss 
Sheridan.  The  reason  these  particular  houses 
w^ere  attacked  appears  to  have  been  because 
either  the  owner  or  the  shop  boys  employed  by 
him  were  active  in  the  Sinn  Fein  or  Jrish 
Volunteer  Organisations.  So  far  as  I  could 
learn  no  person  in  the  town  suffered  any  personal 
injury." 

The  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  referred  to 
both  these  cases  in  a  speech  in  the  House  of 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.      307 

Commons  on  20th  October,  1920.  His  words  are 
worth  quoting  as  being  the  sanest  and  most 
reasonable  comment  upon  the  question  of 
reprisals  that  has  yet  appeared. 

The  quotations  are  from  Hansard.  Dealing 
with  the  Ennistymon  case,  he  said  : 

**  Five  policemen,  in  the  course  of  their  duty, 
were  operating  in  the  western  part  of  Clare  near 
two  villages  called  Ennistymon  and  Lahinch. 
They  were  ambushed  by  a  large  number  of  men, 
probably  fifty.  Shots  were  fired  that  at  once 
stopped  the  car.  Expanding  bullets  rained  on 
them.  Four  of  the  men  were  killed  instantly  as 
a  result  of  the  bullets,  and  the  car  was 
bespattered  with  blood  and  the  mutilated  remains 
of  the  four.  The  fifth,  though  badly  wounded, 
managed  to  crawl  away  from  the  car  for  400 
yards.  He  was  pursued.  Shot-guns  were  used 
within  a  foot  of  him  to  blow  his  body  to  pieces. 
The  car  was  on  the  road,  with  these  men 
mutilated  beyond  recognition,  when,  within  ten 
minutes,  another  car  containing  soldiers  and 
police  came  along.  They  lost  their  heads.  They 
went  to  the  villages  of  Ennistymon  and  Lahinch. 
I  am  sure  the  House,  whatever  their  opinion  may 
be  as  to  this  Resolution,*  will,  at  any  rate,  give 


*  The  Reaolution,  moved  by  Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  was 
defeated  by  346  votes  to  79.  It  was  as  follows  :  "  That  this 
House  regrets  the  present  state  of  lawlessneBS  in  Ireland  and 
the  lack  of  discipline  in  the  armed  forces  of  the  Crown,  result- 
ing in  the  death  or  injury  of  innocent  citizens  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  property;  and  is  of  the  opinion  that  an  independent 
investigation  should  at  once  be  instituted  into  the  cause,  nature 
and  extent  of  reprisals  on  the  part  of  those  whose  duty  is  the 
maintenance  of  law  and  order. 


308       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

me  their  sympathy  in  trying  to  bring  peace  out 
of  chaos  in  Ireland.  It  is  true  that  reprisals 
followed  the  murder  of  these  five  gallant  men. 
Sixteen  houses  and  shops  were  destroyed — houses 
that  were  considered  to  be  occupied  or  owned 
by  notorious  Sinn  Feiners. 

"  Here,  again,  I  am  convinced  that  the  people 
of  these  two  villages  knew  of  this  ambush.  (An 
Hon.  Member:  '  How  do  you  know?  '  The 
Chief  Secretary  :  '  On  the  evidence.'  The  Hon. 
Member  :  '  Let  us  have  the  evidence.*)  I  will. 
The  place  of  ambush  covered  a  long  stretch  on 
both  sides  of  the  road,  and  from  the  evidence  of 
the  bandoliers,  haybeds,  haversacks,  coats, 
blankets,  meat  tins,  and  so  on,  it  was  clear  that 
the  bivouac  had  been  there  at  least  twelve  hours, 
and  possibly  twenty- four  hours.  The  place  was 
within  sight  of  many  houses.  I  am  admitting 
what  is  called  a  reprisal.  I  am  putting  to  you 
the  provocation  that  comes  to  brave  men  . 
I  hope  I  have  shown  that  the  ambush  must  have 
been  present  to  many  people  in  the  vicinity.  The 
Irish  Republican  Army  is  particularly  strong  in 
that  area.  We  have  lists  of  the  members.  We 
have  the  muster  roll  in  that  area.  We  know 
exactly,  as  far  as  it  is  humanly  possible  to  know, 
the  persons  who  connived  at  and  helped  in  that 
ambush,  which  resulted  in  the  mutilation  and 
death  of  five  members  of  the  Royal  Irish  Con- 
stabulary." 

Dealing  with  the  case  of  District  Inspector 
Brady,  the  Chief  Secretary  in  the  same  speech, 
said  :  "  District  Inspector  Brady  served  through- 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       309 

out  the  war  as  an  officer  in  the  Irish  Guards,  and 
won  the  approval  of  his  superiors  for  his  courage 
in  the  field.  He  became  a  District  Inspector  in 
the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  in  Monaghan, 
which  was  looked  upon,  as  things  go  in  Ireland, 
as  rather  a  peaceful  county.  He  volimteered  to 
go  into  a  disturbed  area  to  exchange  with  a 
married  man  with  a  family.  He  was  a  real 
Irishman  of  the  best  sort.  He  was  travelling 
in  the  front  seat,  the  seat  of  danger,  in  a  patrol 
lorry  in  the  ordinary  course  of  his  duties  towards 
a  village  called  Tubber curry,  in  Sligo.  He  and 
his  men  were  ambushed  just  before  they  arrived 
at  the  village.  The  ambush  was  carefully 
planned.  Over  fifty  men  waited  hour  after 
hour  for  this  lorry  to  come  along.  Shots — 
expanding  bullets — were  fired  into  the  lorry. 
Poor  Brady  was  seriously  wounded  in  three 
places.  .  .  .  The  motor  driver  brought  the 
car  into  the  yard.  Brady,  dying,  was  taken  out 
by  his  men.  I  want  to  show  two  things  in  this 
ghastly  chapter  of  Irish  History,  not  reflecting 
the  real  Irishman,  but  the  grossest  form  of  brutal 
assassination.  Brady's  clothes  were  cut  off  him. 
He  was  wounded  horribly  in  three  places  by 
expanding  bullets,  and  anyone  who  knows 
anything  about  the  effect  of  expanding  bullets 
can  visualise  that  gallant  District  Inspector  a 
ghastly  mass  of  mutilation  on  the  floor  of  the 
barracks.  Another  policeman  had  the  calf  of 
his  leg  blown  off  by  an  expanding  bullet,  and, 
unconscious,  was  groaning  in  pain.  A  third 
had  his  face  full  of  gun-shot  pellets.     That  was 


310      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  scene  that  met  some  soldiers  and  policemen 
who  came  on  afterwards.  They  saw  Brady  on 
the  floor.  They  knew  him.  They  loved  him. 
Soldiers  and  policemen  trained  under  the  British 
flag  love  their  oSicers.  They  so  love  them  that 
they  go  to  their  death  for  them.  I  admit  that 
when  they  saw  Brady's  form  on  the  ground  they 
saw  red.  I  admit  there  was  a  reprisal.  They 
went  out  and  they  burnt  three  shops  of  three 
notorious  Sinn  Feiners.  They  smashed  several 
other  shops  all  owned  or  occupied  by  notorious 
Sinn  Feiners,  and  I  am  convinced,  on  the 
evidence,  that  every  one  of  those  persons  who 
suffered  through  the  reprisal  connived  at, 
possibly  helped,  and  certainly  all  condoned  that 
murder  of  District  Inspector  Brady." 

Perhaps  of  all  the  cases  of  reprisals  which 
occurred  during  1920,  that  of  Balbriggan  is  most 
widely  known.  The  circumstances  that  led  up 
to  this  incident  were  as  follows. 

Balbriggan  is  a  village  of  over  two  thousand 
inhabitants,  lying  on  the  east  coast  of  Ireland 
some  twenty  miles  north  of  Dublin.  On  the  20th 
September,  1920,  Head  Constable  Burke,  of  the 
Phoenix  Park  R.I.C.  Depot,  Dublin,  accom- 
panied by  his  brother  Sergeant  Burke,  went  out 
to  Balbriggan  for  a  day's  leave.  Head  Constable 
Burke  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  defence 
of  a  barracks  in  County  Clare,  for  which  he  had 
received  special  promotion,  and  was  undoubtedly 
regarded  by  the  Republicans  as  a  marked  man. 
While  he  was  in  the  bar  of  an  Hotel,  he  was 
recognised  by  members  of  the  Irish  Volunteers, 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       311 

and  shot  in  cold  blood,  his  brother  being  wounded 
at  the  same  time. 

The  news  of  this  outrage  spread  to  Gormans- 
town  Camp,  some  four  miles  distant,  which  had 
recently  been  converted  into  a  R.I.C.  depot,  and 
was  therefore  occupied  by  men  who  had  all  passed 
through  Burke's  hands  during  their  training. 
Burke  was  exceedingly  popular  with  these  men, 
and  upon  the  news  of  his  murder  reaching  them 
they  got  completely  out  of  hand.  Burning  with 
a  thirst  for  revenge  against  the  murderers  and 
the  village  which  sheltered  them,  they  broke  out 
of  barracks  and  proceeded  to  Balbriggan.  There 
they  seized  two  prominent  Republicans,  officers 
in  the  local  Irish  Volunteers,  and  shot  them  dead. 
Subsequently  damage  was  inflicted  upon  the 
village  to  the  extent  of  1  factory,  4  public-houses, 
and  19  private  houses  being  burned  and  30 
private  houses  wrecked.  The  damage  was  esti- 
mated at  between  £130,000  and  £150,000. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  these  outbreaks  by  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  were  indefensible.  The 
authorities  have  never  attempted  to  defend  or 
condone  them.  In  a  statement  to  the  Press  on 
28th  September  the  Chief  Secretary  said : 
"  There  is  no  truth  in  the  allegation  that  the 
Government  connives  at  or  supports  reprisals. 
The  Government  condemns  reprisals  and  has 
issued  orders  condemning  them  and  has 
taken  steps  to  prevent  them.*'  Nothing  could 
be  clearer  than  this.  In  the  speech  that  has  ' 
already  been  quoted  the  Chief  Secretary  referred 
to  the  Balbriggan  episode  in  the  following  terms  : 


312      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

"  I  will  face  Balbriggan  as  all  these  casee, 
because  in  the  present  abnormal  state  of  Ireland 
those  persons,  generally  of  an  anaemic  and  it  may 
be  hysterical  disposition,  who  expect  things  to 
work  on  the  lines  of  the  ordered  routine  you  will 
find  in  this  favoured  country,  expect  too  much, 
and  are  dealing  not  with  facts  but  with  visions. 
Take  Balbriggan.  This  case  has  been  stated,  I 
think,  by  the  right  hon.  Gentleman,  the  Member 
for  Paisley  (Mr.  Asquith),  to  be  comparable  with 
a  Belgian  town  in  the  war.  I  believe  the  right 
hon.  Gentleman  said  he  had  seen  some  of  these 
places.  So  have  I.  Has  he  seen  Balbriggan? 
(Mr.  Asquith  :  '  No.')  I  have.  I  claim  to  be  an 
authority  on  Balbriggan.  I  will  give  the  case  as 
it  is,  and  I  will  admit  at  the  start  it  is  a  case 
which  I,  more  than  anyone  else,  have  every  right 
to  regret,  because  it  did  mean  a  certain  break  in 
the  splendid  discipline  of  the  Irish  police.  But 
when  the  right  hon.  Gentleman  or  anybody  else 
compares  Balbriggan  with  a  village  at  the  front, 
at  the  Belgian  front  or  any  other  place  in  the 
War,  the  statement  has  no  relation  to  facts, 
either  in  the  cause  which  led  to  destruction  or  in 
the  amount  of  destruction  which  resulted. 
Head  Constable  Burke,  who  had  recently  been 
decorated  for  his  gallant  defence  of  a  barracks, 
became  a  marked  man  for  the  assassins  in 
Ireland.  Everyone  in  Ireland  who  gets  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary  Medal  for  courage,  or 
who  does  anything  out  of  the  ordinary  in  his 
loyal  devotion  to  duty,  is  a  marked  man  by  the 
terrorists  in  Ireland.       Head  Constable  Burke 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       313 

was  in  Balbriggan  with  his  Brother  Sergeant 
Burke  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary.  It  is 
true  they  had  gone  into  a  public-house.  But  the 
suggestion  that  the  murder  of  Head  Constable 
Burke  and  the  dangerous  wounding  of  his  brother 
the  sergeant  was  due  to  the  effort  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers  to  bring  about  peace,  as  my  right  hon. 
friend  the  Member  for  Widnes  suggested,  is 
really  so  remote  from  the  fact  that  it  is  in  the 
dark.  This  head  constable,  unarmed,  and  his 
brother,  unarmed,  were  surrounded  by  what  I 
call  assassins — I  know  no  other  name  for  them — 
and  the  head  constable  was  shot  dead.  The 
brother  was  shot  and  dangerously  wounded. 
Then  the  assassins  fled.  Head  Constable  Burke 
was  not  only  a  man  of  great  courage  but  a  very 
popular  man  with  the  police.  In  two  depots, 
miles  away  from  Balbriggan,  when  they  heard 
of  this  murder  they  came  in  lorries  to  Balbriggan. 
When  they  saw  the  bodies  of  Burke  and  his 
brother  they — I  admit  it — they  saw  red.  I 
admit  it  with  regret.  I  always  view  these 
actions  with  the  profoundest  regret.  In 
Balbriggan  that  night  19  houses  of  Sinn  Feiners 
were  destroyed  or  damaged,  4  public-houses 
were  destroyed,  and  1  hosiery  factory,  which 
employed  200  hands,  was  also  destroyed.  I 
admit  at  once  that  it  is  difficult  to  defend  the 
destruction  of  that  factory.  (Lieut. -Commander 
Ken  worthy  :  '  Two  men  were  also  killed.')  And 
two  men  were  killed.  (Mr.  Asquith  :  '  Mur- 
dered.') If  the  right  hon.  Gentleman  the  Mem- 
ber for  Paisley  gets  any  satisfaction  out  of  it  I 


314      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

will  say  '  murdered.'  I  myself  have  had  the 
fullest  inquiry  made  into  the  case.  I  will  tell 
the  House  what  I  found.  I  found  that  from  lOQ 
to  150  men  went  to  Balbriggan  determined  to 
avenge  the  death  of  a  popular  comrade  shot  at 
and  murdered  in  cold  blood.  I  find  it  is 
impossible  out  of  that  150  to  find  the  men  who  did 
the  deed,  who  did  the  burning.  I  have  had  the 
most  searching  inquiry  made.  I  have  laid  down 
a  code  of  still  more  severe  discipline  for  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to 
know  that  it  will  meet  with  approval.  I  myself 
had  a  parade  of  a  large  number  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Constabulary.  I  addressed  them.  I  saw 
that  what  I  said  was  published  in  nearly  every 
paper  in  Ireland.  I  do  not  want  to  weary  the 
House  with  a  repetition  of  my  speech,  but  I  put 
the  matter  in  as  strong  words  as  I  could  command 
that  their  business,  and  mine,  was  to  prevent 
crime  and  to  detect  criminals,  and  when  there 
was  great  provocation  they  must  not  give  way. 
But  I  cannot  in  my  heart  of  hearts — and,  Mr. 
Speaker,  I  say  this — it  may  be  right  or  it  may- 
be wrong — I  cannot  condemn  in  the  same  way 
those  policemen  who  lost  their  heads  as  I 
condemn  the  assassins  who  provoked  this 
outrage.  My  quarrel  with  the  right  hon. 
Gentleman  the  Member  for  Paisley  and  his 
friends  is  that  they  put  all  the  emphasis  on 
reprisals  in  Ireland.  I  put  it  on  the  provocation. 
(Mr.  Mills  :  'Look  at  Ulster  !')  The  best  and  the 
surest  way  to  stop  reprisals  is  to  stop  the  murder 
of  policemen,   soldiers  and  loyal  citizens.       I 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.      315 

regret  these  reprisals  beyond  words.  It  is  a 
reflection  on  the  discipline  of  a  famous  force. 
It  is  a  reflection  on  my  administration  as  political 
head  of  that  force.  But  if  I  could  bring  to  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  every  member  of  this  House, 
I  do  not  care  on  what  Benches  they  sit,  the  two 
years  of  agony,  of  the  intolerable  provocation 
that  these  policemen,  and  in  some  cases  soldiers, 
have  gone  through,  the  situation  would  be  better 
understood,  and  reprisals,  whilst  condemned,  and 
properly  condemned,  would  also  be  understood." 

The  address  to  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary 
referred  to  by  the  Chief  Secretary  in  this  speech 
was  delivered  at  the  Depot  in  Phoenix  Park  on 
30th  September,  1920.  It  contains  the  follow- 
ing passages. 

"  You  are  a  disciplined  force,  and  I  con- 
fidently count  upon  you  to  maintain  that  dis- 
cipline, no  matter  what  the  provocation. 
Accounts  of  reprisals  in  certain  newspapers  are 
always  misleading,  and  frequently  misrepresent 
acts  of  justifiable  self-defence  as  reprisals,  but 
there  are  cases  in  which  unjustifiable  action  has 
undoubtedly  been  taken.  These  cases  are  being 
carefully  investigated.  Meanwhile  it  is  neces- 
sary to  repeat  and  to  emphasise  that  reprisals 
will  ruin  the  discipline  of  the  force,  and  cannot 
be  countenanced  by  those  in  authority.  The 
great  provocation  under  which  men  suffer  who 
see  their  comrades  and  friends  brutally  mur- 
dered is  fully  recognised,  and  by  no  one  more 
than  myself;  but  the  police  are  urged  to  main- 


316      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

tain,  in  spite  of  this,  that  self-control  that  has 
characterised  the  force  in  the  past." 

Both  police  and  military  authorities  have 
repeatedly  made  it  clear  to  the  forces  under  their 
command  that  reprisals  would  not  be  tolerated, 
and  there  is  every  evidence  that  the  measures 
taken  by  them  have  been  successful  in  putting  a 
stop,  so  far  as  is  humanly  possible,  to  the  evil. 
The  measure  of  their  success  is  to  be  gauged  not  so 
much  by  the  reprisals  which  have  taken  place, 
which  in  all  cases  have  been  due  to  hasty  local 
action  taken  under  intense  provocation,  but  by 
the  number  of  woundings  and  murders  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Forces  of  the  Crown  which  have  not 
been  followed  by  the  slightest  suggestion  of  a 
reprisal.  After  all,  the  whole  spirit  of  any 
organised  force  lies  in  its  esprit  de  corps,  and  it 
is  only  natural  for  a  man  who  realises  the  whole 
meaning  of  that  phrase  to  seek  revenge  on  a 
cowardly  enemy  who  has  inflicted  injury  upon 
his  comrades.  There  is  only  one  way  of  ensuring 
that  reprisals  shall  cease  for  good  in  Ireland, 
and  that  is  to  stop  the  campaign  of  outrage 
carried  on  by  the  Republicans.  If  those  who 
protested  against  the  occurrence  of  reprisals  were 
sincere,  they  would  refrain  from  encouragement 
of  the  Republicans  and  lend  their  influence  to  the 
suppression  of  outrage. 

The  following  Order,  issued  from  the  Royal 
Irish  Constabulary  Office,  Dublin  Castle,  on  28th 
September,  1920,  and  headed  "  Alleged  acts  of 
reprisals  by  police  and  soldiers  "  is  only  one  of 
the  many  examples  of  the  orders  that  have  been 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       317 

issued  on  the  subject,  by  both  military  and  police 
authorities.  It  begins  with  the  words  of  the 
Chief  Secretary  already  quoted,   and  goes  on  : 

"  The  police  exist  to  restore  and  maintain 
order  in  the  country.  Destruction  of  buildings 
and  institutions  cannot  but  impoverish  the 
country  and  increase  want  and  disorder.  It 
must  however  be  made  clear  to  all  ranks  that  the 
effective  use  of  weapons  when  threatened  or 
attacked  is  only  legitimate  self-defence,  and  that 
it  is  their  duty  to  hunt  down  murderers  by  every 
means  in  their  power.  The  power  of  the 
Government  to  bring  to  justice  those  who  commit 
crimes  is  increasing  every  day.  The  police  will 
be  fully  supported  and  protected  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duties  by  every  means  available." 

The  Order  is  signed  '*  G.  A.  Walsh,  Deputy 
Inspector-General,"  and  was  circulated  to  all 
Divisional  Commissioners,  County  Inspectors, 
District  Inspectors,  and  to  all  stations. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  both  the  number 
of  reprisals  which  have  occurred  and  the  damage 
done  has  been  greatly  exaggerated  in  certain 
quarters.  On  29th  September,  1920,  a  list, 
supplied  from  Republican  quarters,  appeared  in 
certain  sections  of  the  British  and  Irish  Press, 
giving  what  purported  to  be  the  dates  and  locali- 
ties of  reprisals  carried  out  by  the  Forces  of  the 
Crown.  Ninety -eight  out  of  the  total  of  101 
incidents  were  alleged  to  have  taken  place  during 
1920.  It  would  be  impossible  to  give  the  facts 
underlying  each  one  of  these  allegations,  but  we 


318      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

can  examine  the  figures,  and  take  a  few  typical 
examples. 

Of  the  98  cases  alleged,  18  were  genuine 
reprisals,  and  a  brief  note  of  the  circumstances 
attending  them  follows.  The  remaining  80  may 
be  divided  up  as  follows. 

In  17  cases,  mostly  accusations  of  towns  being 
**  shot  up  "  by  police,  there  is  no  foundation 
whatever  for  the  allegation. 

In  11  cases,  no  record  or  information  can  be 
obtained  of  the  alleged  occurrence. 

In  the  remaining  52  cases,  activity  of  some 
kind  took  place  at  the  place  and  date  alleged, 
such  activity  being  due  to  legitimate  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Forces  of  the  Crown,  or  to 
unknown  individuals.  In  no  one  of  these  cases 
did  any  form  of  ' '  reprisal  ' '  take  place,  nor  was 
there  any  action  by  police  or  military  beyond  the 
lawful  execution  of  their  duty.  Instances  of  the 
allegations  and  the  corresponding  facts  will  be 
given  below. 

Dealing  first  with  the  cases  in  which 
**  reprisals  "  actually  took  place  : 

On  22nd  January  it  is  alleged  that  the  town  of 
Thurles,  in  the  County  Tipperary,  was  sacked  by 
troops.  The  facts  are  that  following  the  murder 
of  Constable  Finnegan  on  the  20th,  the  local 
police  attacked  the  houses  of  twelve  prominent 
Sinn  Feiners. 

On  27th  April,  it  is  alleged  that  many  houses 
in  Limerick  City  were  wrecked  by  troops.  The 
facts  are  that  some  slight  damage  was  committed 


THE    QUESTION    OF    EEPRISALS.       319 

by   troops  as  a  reprisal  for  the  murder  of  a 
soldier.     There  was  no  shooting. 

On  27th  June,  it  is  alleged  that  Fermoy, 
County  Cork,  was  sacked  by  troops.  The  facts 
are  that  £18,000  worth  of  damage  was  committed 
by  troops  as  a  reprisal  for  the  kidnapping  of 
General  Lucas. 

On  20th  July,  it  is  alleged  that  Tuam,  County 
Galway,  was  sacked  by  police.  The  facts  are  as 
follows.  On  the  night  of  19th  July  a  R.I.C. 
motor-van  returning  from  Galway  Assizes  was 
ambushed  three  miles  from  Tuam,  and  two  con- 
stables were  shot  dead.  At  4.30  a.m.  the  follow- 
ing day  a  party  of  military  and  police  arrived  at 
Tuam  to  assist  the  local  police  in  their  search 
for  the  murderers.  When  these  police  saw  the 
bodies  of  their  fallen  comrades  lying  dead  on  the 
floor  of  the  mess-room  their  pent-up  feelings 
overcame  them  and  they  broke  loose  in  a  fierce 
attack  upon  the  town  of  Tuam,  and  committed 
much  destruction  of  property.  The  Town  Hall 
was  burnt  to  the  ground.  No  person  was 
attacked  or  injured  in  this  outbreak. 

On  31st  July,  it  is  alleged  that  Tipperary 
Town  was  partially  sacked  by  troops.  The 
facts  are  that  about  twelve  windows  were  broken. 
A  soldier  had  been  murdered  on  the  previous  day. 

On  8th  August,  it  is  alleged  that  Kildorrery, 
County  Cork,  was  wrecked  and  looted  by  police. 
The  facts  are  that  on  the  7th  a  police  constable 
was  shot  dead.  During  the  night  some  shops  in 
the  village  were  wrecked. 

On  26th  August,   it  is  alleged  that  Shana- 


320      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

golden,  County  Limerick,  was  partially  sacked 
by  police.  The  facts  are  as  follows.  On  26th 
August,  two  sick  constables,  one  in  plain  clothes 
and  the  other  in  uniform,  were  partially  stripped 
and  were  marched  through  the  streets  surrounded 
by  jeering  and  insulting  crowds.  Later  in  the 
day  shots  were  fired  on  a  police  patrol.  The 
creamery  and  several  shops  were  burned  down 
during  the  night,  probably  by  either  the  police  or 
soldiers  or  both,  but  it  has  not  yet  been  possible 
to  say  with  certainty  that  either  of  these  Forces 
carried  out  the  reprisal. 

On  26th  August,  it  is  alleged  that  Naas, 
County  Kildare,  was  "  shot-up  "  by  police. 
The  facts  are  that  a  boot  shop  was  burned  and 
shots  fired  by  persons  whom  the  police  believe 
were  "  '  Black  and  Tans  '  or  persons  dressed  as 
such."     No  provocation  is  assigned. 

On  27th  August  it  is  alleged  that  Queenstown, 
County  Cork,  was  sacked  by  troops.  The  facts 
are  that  sixty  shops  were  damaged  by  troops  and 
five  looted  as  a  reprisal  for  an  attack  upon  them 
two  days  previously,  when  an  oflficer  of  the 
Cameron  Highlanders  was  killed  and  one  soldier 
of  the  same  regiment  was  killed  and  another 
wounded. 

On  2nd  September  it  is  alleged  that  Inniscarra, 
County  Cork,  was  partially  sacked  by  police. 
The  facts  are  that  on  the  1st  a  military  patrol  was 
fired  upon  and  one  soldier  wounded.  One  house 
was  burned  as  a  reprisal.  The  police  report 
states  that  this  was  done  by  the  military. 

On  10th  September  it  is  alleged  that  Tullow^ 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       321 

County  Carlow,  was  sacked  by  police.  The  facts 
are  that  two  shops  were  burned.  It  is  stated 
that  the  perpetrators  were  military,  probably 
assisted  by  local  police.  If  this  is  so,  it  was  in 
the  nature  of  a  reprisal  for  the  murder  of  two 
constables  shot  dead  on  patrol.  The  dead  bodies 
of  the  constables  were  found  by  their  comrades 
at  the  scene  of  the  attack  about  an  hour  later. 

On  20th  September,  it  is  alleged  that  Bal- 
briggan,  County  Dublin,  was  sacked  by  police. 
This  is  the  "  Balbriggan  incident  "  previously 
described. 

On  21st  September,  it  is  alleged  that  Balbrig- 
gan was  "  shot-up  "  by  police.  The  facts  are 
that  a  few  shots  were  fired,  but  no  person  was 
injured  and  no  damage  was  done. 

On  22nd  September,  it  is  alleged  that  Ennis- 
tymon.  County  Clare,  was  sacked  by  police. 

On  22nd  September,  it  is  alleged  that  Lahinch, 
County  Clare,  was  sacked  by  police. 

On  22nd  September,  it  is  alleged  that  Milltown 
Malbay,  County  Clare,  was  sacked  by  police. 

(These  refer  to  the  "  Ennistymon  incident," 
see  page  301.  The  damage  done  amounted  to  the 
burning  of  8  houses  in  Ennistymon,  9  in  Lahinch, 
and  9  in  Milltown  Malbay.  Four  civilians  sus- 
pected of  complicity  in  the  ambush  were  killed.) 

On  9th  September  it  is  alleged  that  the  Galway 
police  ran  amok,  resulting  in  three  deaths.  The 
facts  are  that  a  constable  was  attacked  and 
murdered  at  the  railway  station  about  midnight. 
In  self-defence  he  killed  a  civilian  who  was  one 
of  the  attackers.       Two  hours  later  the  police 

V 


322      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

attacked  several  houses  and  killed  a  leading 
Sinn  Feiner,  whom  they  suspected  of  complicity 
in  the  murder  of  their  comrade. 

On  20th  September,  it  is  alleged  that  two 
civilians  were  shot  dead  and  their  houses  burnt 
at  Abbey feale,  County  Limerick.  The  facts  are 
that  two  civilians  were  shot  dead  by  a  police 
constable  who  stated  that  they  ran  when  called 
upon  to  halt.  A  military  Court  of  Inquiry  was 
held  upon  the  matter,  and  found  that  there  was 
not  sufficient  evidence  to  enable  them  to  decide  as 
to  the  circumstances  in  which  the  shots  were  fired 
by  the  constable. 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  cases  occurred 
between  1st  January,  1920,  and  22nd  September, 
1920,  and  that  as  a  result  of  reprisals  by  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  seven  civilians  are  admitted 
to  have  been  killed,  one  was  shot  by  a  constable  in 
self-defence  (at  Galway  on  9th  September),  and 
two  were  shot  under  unexplained  circiunstances 
(at  Abbeyf eale  on  20th  September) .  The  murder 
of  these  seven  civilians  is  imjustifiable,  although 
great  provocation  can  be  urged  on  behalf  of  the 
men  who  did  the  deeds. 

Now  let  us  glance  at  the  other  side  of  the 
picture.  During  the  period  between  1st 
January,  1920,  and  22nd  September,  1920,  84 
policemen  and  12  soldiers  were  murdered  by  the 
Republicans  without  provocation  of  any  kind. 
Well  might  the  Chief  Secretary  point  the  moral 
in  the  House  in  the  course  of  his  speech  already 
quoted ! 

'*  I  have  a  right   to  complain  of  reprisals. 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       323 

because  I  am  responsible  for  the  discipline  of  the 
Irish  Constabulary.  The  Commander-in-Chief 
has  a  right  to  complain  of  reprisals,  because  he  is 
responsible  for  the  discipline  of  the  British  Army 
in  Ireland.  But  these  men  who  acquiesced  in, 
connived  at,  condoned  or  supported  the  murder 
of  District  Inspector  Brady,  or  members  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  have  no  right  to  com- 
plain of  reprisals.  They  are  members  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Army  that  is  pledged  by  force 
of  arms  to  set  up  an  independent  Republic  in 
Ireland,  to  defy  the  authority  of  this  House,  and 
to  claim  the  right  to  assassinate  the  ofifioers  of 
the  Crown." 

A  passage  in  An  T'Oglac  of  15th  August, 
1920,  explains  the  last  words  of  the  above 
quotation.  It  is  as  follows  :  "  We  realise  that  it 
is  far  more  profitable  to  kill  for  Ireland  than  to 
die  for  her." 

To  return  to  the  52  cases  of  alleged  reprisals, 
in  which  activity  took  place  at  the  place  and  date 
alleged.  Space  does  not  permit  of  our  dealing 
with  each  of  these,  but  we  may  take  6,  typical 
of  all  the  rest. 

On  1st  March  it  is  alleged  that  Thurles, 
County  Tipperary,  was  partially  wrecked  by 
troops.  The  facts  are  that  eleven  panes  of  glass 
in  the  Sinn  Fein  Hall  were  broken,  also  two  plate- 
glass  windows  in  shops.  One  of  the  injured 
persons,  who  is  a  loyalist,  attributed  the  damage 
to  the  work  of  Sinn  Fein. 

On  28th  June  it  is  alleged  that  Limerick  City 
was  partially  sacked  by  police.     The  facts  are 


324      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

that  malicious  damage,  which  consisted  of  the 
breaking  of  nine  windows  and  injury  to  the  doors 
and  floor  of  the  Railway  Hotel  and  the  burning 
of  a  business  premises,  was  committed  by  persons 
unknown.  There  was  no  looting,  and  it  is 
thought  that  the  motive  was  personal  spite 
against  the  owner  of  the  properties. 

On  15th  July  it  is  alleged  that  Tralee,  County 
Kerry,  was  partially  sacked  by  police.  The  facts 
are  that  a  shot  was  fired  by  a  sentry  who  thought 
he  saw  some  persons  trying  to  get  through  the 
barbed  wire  entanglement  in  front  of  the  Court- 
house, where  the  Assizes  were  being  held. 

On  17th  and  18th  July  it  is  alleged  that  Cork 
City  was  "  shot-up  "  by  police.  The  facts  are 
as  follows.  The  only  firing  on  the  I7th  was  in 
self-defence.  The  police  were  fired  at  and 
returned  the  fire.  No  person  was  injured  and  no 
damage  was  done.  On  the  18th  attacks  were 
made  on  parties  of  soldiers.  The  military  were 
turned  out  to  clear  the  streets.  General  firing 
took  place  throughout  the  city  and  considerable 
damage  was  done.  The  police  were  not  fired 
upon  and  did  not  fire  during  that  night. 

On  22nd  July,  it  is  alleged  that  Leap,  County 
Cork,  was  sacked  by  police.  The  facts  are  that 
a  mixed  party  of  military  and  police  were  fired 
upon  from  the  Sinn  Fein  Hall.  The  police 
returned  the  fire  and  broke  into  the  Hall.  Some 
damage  was  done  in  the  process.  The  houses  of 
local  suspects  were  searched. 

On  21st  August,  it  is  alleged  that  Oranmore, 
County  Gal  way  was  sacked  by  police.     The  facts 


THE    QUESTION    OF    REPRISALS.       325 

are  that  a  police  patrol  was  fired  on.  Earlier  in 
the  day  a  constable  from  Oranmore  had  been  shot 
dead  when  proceeding  to  Galway.  The  police  in 
searching  for  the  assailants  of  the  patrol  bombed 
and  burned  the  house  of  a  leading  Sinn  Feiner  in 
which  the  assailants  had  taken  refuge.  The 
Coimty  Inspector,  reporting  the  following  day, 
stated  that  the  discipline  of  the  men  was  admir- 
able. 

From  the  above  examples,  chosen  at  random  but 
all  typical  of  the  allegations  emanating  from 
Republican  sources,  the  facts  underlying  the 
majority  of  the  accounts  of  "  reprisals  "  which 
have  appeared  may  be  adequately  gauged. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  ULSTER. 

The  Province  of  Ulster  consists  of  the  Counties 
of  Antrim,  Armagh,  Cavan,  Donegal,  Down, 
Fermanagh,  Londonderry,  Monaghan,  and 
Tyrone,  with  a  population,  according  to  the 
census  of  1911,  of  1,581,696.  But  geographical 
Ulster  has  ceased  to  have  a  separate  political 
existence,  and  in  speaking  of  Ulster  the  *'  Six 
Counties,"  and  these  alone,  are  usually  implied. 
This  new  division  of  Ireland  is  defined  by  the 
Government  of  Ireland  Bill  in  the  following 
words : 

"  For  the  purposes  of  this  Act  Northern 
Ireland  shall  consist  of  the  Parliamentary  coun- 
ties of  Antrim,  Armagh,  Down,  Fermanagh, 
Londonderry,  and  Tyrone,  and  the  Parliamen- 
tary boroughs  of  Belfast  and  Londonderry;  and 
Southern  Ireland  shall  consist  of  so  much  of 
Ireland  as  is  not  comprised  within  the  said 
Parliamentary  counties  and  boroughs." 

The  population  of  Northern  Ireland  as  thus 
defined  was  1,250,531  at  the  time  of  the  census 
of  1911,  or  rather  more  than  28%  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  whole  of  Ireland  at  that  time.     This 


THE    QUESTION    OF    ULSTER.        327 

population  differs  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the 
country  in  being,  generally  speaking,  industrial, 
"  Unionist,"  and  Protestant,  rather  than  agri- 
cultural, *'  Nationalist,"  and  Roman  Catholic. 
As  illustrating  the  first  two  of  these  distinctions, 
it  may  be  said  that  in  1912  Belfast  claimed  to 
handle  seventy  per  cent  of  the  whole  export  trade 
of  Ireland,  and  that  in  the  present  Parliament 
the  Six  Counties  are  represented  by  23  Unionist 
members  out  of  a  total  of  thirty. 

It  is  the  existence  of  these  differences- that  has 
caused  the  people  of  the  Six  Counties  to  take  up 
a  different  attitude  from  that  assumed  by  the 
people  of  the  rest  of  Ireland.  Finding  them- 
selves to  be  in  a  numerical  minority,  they  have 
been  forced  to  combine  to  resist  absorption  into 
the  majority.  They  have  felt  that  their  needs 
would  never  be  served,  or  their  conditions  under- 
stood, by  a  Parliament  of  All  Ireland,  in  which 
the  majority  would  legislate  for  the  needs  of  a 
community  differing  from  themselves  in  every 
respect.  Racially  and  economically  they  have 
felt  themselves  to  be  more  closely  allied  to  the 
British  people  than  to  the  Irish,  and  they  have 
resolutely  set  their  faces  against  political  incor- 
poration with  the  latter,  preferring  union  with 
Great  Britain  or  some  form  of  self-government 
for  themselves.  The  history  of  this  tendency  is 
practically  the  history  of  Ulster  in  recent  years. 

The  agitation  to  resist  Home  Rule,  by  which  is 
meant  the  institution  of  a  single  Parliament  for 
the  whole  of  Ireland,  was  from  its  inception  until 
the  outbreak  of  war,  controlled  and  guided  by  the 


328      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Ulster  Unionist  Council.  That  body  first  came 
into  existence  on  2nd  December,  1904.  On  that 
date  a  conference  of  delegates  from  the  various 
Unionist  organisations  was  held  in  Belfast,  at 
which  it  was  resolved  "  That  an  Ulster  Council 
be  formed,  and  that  its  objects  shall  be  to  form 
an  Ulster  Union  for  bringing  into  line  all  local 
Unionist  Associations  in  the  Province  of  Ulster 
with  a  view  to  consistent  and  continuous  political 
action;  to  act  as  a  further  connecting  link 
between  Ulster  Unionists  and  their  Parliamen- 
tary representatives;  to  settle  in  consultation 
with  them  the  Parliamentary  policy,  and  to  be 
the  medium  of  expressing  Ulster  Unionist 
opinion  as  current  events  may  from  time  to  time 
require,  and  generally  to  advance  and  defend  the 
interests  of  Ulster  Unionism  in  the  Unionist 
Party."  The  first  meeting  of  the  Council  was 
held  in  the  Ulster  Hall,  Belfast,  on  3rd  March, 
1905. 

The  intention  to  oppose  Home  Rule  by  armed 
resistance  appears  to  have  first  taken  shape  in 
December,  1910,  ,when  the  following  Manifesto 
was  issued  to  the  Orange  Lodges  in  Ireland. 

MANIFESTO  FROM  THE  GRAND  LODGE 
OF  IRELAND. 

BROTHER  ORANGEMEN, 

We  address  you  at  a  grave  crisis  in  the 
history  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Redmond  and  the  party 
servants  of  the  American  Fenians  have  procured 
for  their  schemes  the  help  of  the  Socialists  and 


THE    QUESTION    OF    ULSTER.        329 

Radicals  of  England.  Under  cover  of  an  attack 
on  the  House  of  Lords  they  are  striking  a  deadly- 
blow  at  the  Union.  If  they  obtain  a  majority  at 
this  election,  Home  Rule  may  be  carried  over  the 
veto  of  the  Second  Chamber  in  two  years.  In 
these  circumstances  you  have  two  duties  to  per- 
form. You  must  use  every  effort  to  defeat  them 
at  the  polls,  neglecting  no  opportunity  of 
influencing  votes  in  Great  Britain.  But  you  are 
equally  bound  to  prepare  for  a  struggle  in  this 
country  if  we  should  fail  to  carry  the  Elections. 
Already  steps  are  being  taken  to  enrol  men  to 
meet  any  emergency.  Orangemen  must  set  the 
example  to  other  Unionists  by  volunteering  their 
services.  Be  well  assured  that  if  we  do  our  duty 
now,  and  show  ourselves  worthy  of  our  liberties, 
the  God  of  our  fathers  will  give  us  strength  to 
hand  down  those  liberties  to  our  children. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Grand  Orange  Lodge 
of  Ireland, 

ERNE,  G.M.  (Grand  Master) 

R.  H.  WALLACE,  G.s.  (Grand  Secretary). 

Dublin,  7th  December,  1910. 

This  was  followed  by  a  letter  from  the  Grand 
Secretary,  Colonel  R.  H.  Wallace. 

Grand  Orange  Lodge  of  Ireland, 

Secretary's  Office,  Grand  Orange  Hall, 

10,  Rutland  Square  East, 

Dublin. 

December,  1910. 
Worshipful  Sir  and  Brother, 

In  pursuance  of  a  resolution  passed  by  tlie 


330       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Grand  Orange  Lodge  of  Ireland  at  the  half- 
yearly  meeting  on  the  7th  December,  1910,  I  beg- 
to  forward  to  you  a  Form  of  Particulars  as 
regards  the  Members  of  your  Lodge  who,  in  the 
event  of  Home  Rule  becoming  law,  are  willing 
to  take  active  steps  to  resist  its  enforcement. 
Please  take  the  greatest  care  in  filling  in  this 
form,  and  see  that  each  Brother  signs  his  name 
in  the  column  headed  "  Signature,"  returning 
the  same  to  me  at  this  address  at  your  very 
earliest  convenience.  It  would  be  advisable  to 
mention  this  subject  in  the  summons  for  your 
next  regular  meeting  in  order  to  ensure  as  large 
an  attendance  as  possible. 

Your  fraternally, 

ROBERT  H.  WALLACE, 

Grand  Secretary. 


GRAND   ORANGE    LODGE    OF    IRELAND. 

Return  from  L.O.L.  No 

District  of .''....  Countv  of 


Name 

Address. 

(2) 

Age. 

Whether 

erer 
enrolled, 
and,  if  so, 
in  what 
Force  and 

rank 
attained 

What 
branch  t.*. 
whether 
Cavalry, 
Infantry, 
Artillery, 
etc. 

Lenjfth 

of 
Service. 

Transport, 

if  what 

Carts, 

Horses,  etc. 

could  you 

supply. 

(7) 

If  fit 

for 

Service. 

(8) 

a' 

a 

1 
in 

(1) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(C) 

(9> 

About  the  same  time  the  Standing  Committee 


THE   QUESTION   OF    ULSTER.        331 

of  the  Ulster  Unionist  Council  took  steps  to 
resuscitate  the  Unionist  Clubs  in  Ulster  which 
had  been  formed  in  1893  to  oppose  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's Home  Rule  Bill. 

The  first  muster  of  the  Unionist  Forces  in 
Ulster  to  protest  against  Home  Rule  was  held  at 
Craigavon,  near  Belfast,  on  Saturday,  23rd 
September,  1911.  The  police  stated  that  not  less 
than  300,000  travelled  on  the  road  to  Craigavon 
from  the  City  to  attend  the  meeting. 

A  series  of  demonstrations  was  held  through- 
out the  Province,  all  leading  up  to  the  signing, 
on  "  Ulster  Day  " — Saturday,  28th  September, 
1912,  of  a  solemn  Covenant  to  resist  Home  Rule. 
This  Covenant  was  as  follows  : — 

ulster's  solemn  league  and  covenant. 

"Being  convinced  in  our  consciences  that  Home 
Rule  would  be  disastrous  to  the  material  well- 
being  of  Ulster  as  well  as  of  the  whole  of  Ireland, 
subversive  of  our  civil  and  religious  freedom, 
destructive  of  our  citizenship,  and  perilous  to 
the  unity  of  the  Empire,  We,  whose  names  are 
underwritten,  men  of  Ulster,  loyal  subjects  of 
His  Gracious  Majesty  King  George  V.,  humbly 
relying  on  the  God  whom  our  fathers  in  days  of 
stress  and  trial  confidently  trusted,  do  hereby 
pledge  ourselves  in  solemn  Covenant  throughout 
this  our  time  of  threatened  calamity  to  stand  by 
one  another  in  defending  for  ourselves  and  our 
children  our  cherished  position  of  equal  citizen- 
ship in  the  iJnited  Kingdom,  and  in  using  all 


332      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

means  which  may  be  found  necessary  to  defeat 
the  present  conspiracy  to  set  up  a  Home  Rule 
Parliament  in  Ireland. 

And  in  the  event  of  such  a  Parliament  being 
forced  upon  us,  we  further  solemnly  and 
mutually  pledge  ourselves  to  refuse  to  recognise 
its  authority. 

In  sure  confidence  that  God  will  defend  the 
right  we  hereto  subscribe  our  names. 

And,  further,  we  individually  declare  that  we 
have  not  already  signed  this  Covenant, 

The  above  was  signed  by  me  at  , 

"  Ulster  Day,"  Saturday,  28th  September,  1912. 

GOD  SAVE  THE  KING." 

The  signing  of  the  Covenant  was  preceded  in 
most  places  by  religious  services  in  the  Protestant 
places  of  worship.  It  was  reported  that  the 
Covenant  was  signed  by  219,206  men  in  Ulster, 
and  by  19,162  Ulster  men  resident  elsewhere, 
making  a  total  of  238,368. 

As  showing  the  zeal  with  which  the  Unionist 
Club  movement  was  taken  up,  the  number  of  these 
clubs  by  May,  1913,  was  315,  with  a  membership 
of  61,454.    Their  distribution  was  as  follows  : — 


THE   QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.        333 


County. 

Number  of  Clubs 

Membership 

Antrim 

42 

11,953 

Armagh 

35 

5,188 

Belfast 

25 

16,628 

Cavan 

16 

1,949 

Donegal 

6 

483 

Down 

66 

12,190 

Fermanagh 

17 

1,405 

Londonderry     . 

29 

3,894 

Monaghan 

15 

1,779 

Tyrone 

74 
..315 

5,985 

Totals 

61,454 

It  will  be  observed  that  over  93  per  cent,  of  this 
membership  was  derived  from  the  'Six  Counties.' 

During  the  month  of  December,  1913,  1,742 
drill  practices  were  held,  in  which  29,979  persons 
took  part.  These  drillings  varied  in  character 
from  the  most  elementary  to  practice  with 
wooden  rifles.  Throughout  the  years  1911,  1912, 
and  1913  large  numbers  of  rifles,  mainly  of  a 
discarded  Italian  Army  pattern,  were  imported 
into  Ulster. 

In  pursuance  of  the  policy  adopted  at  a  private 
meeting  in  December,  1912,  by  the  Unionist 
Council  in  Belfast,  persons  who  had  signed  the 
Covenant  were  called  upon  to  enrol  themselves 
for  either  military  or  political  service  in  the  cam- 
paign against  Home  Rule.  For  the  former  it 
was  decided  to  enrol  a  body  to  be  known  as  the 
Ulster  Volunteer  Force,  and,  at  the  same  time. 


334      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

to  raise  a  Volunteer  Force  of  two  thousand  men 
to  act  as  police  under  the  proposed  Provisional 
Government  for  Ulster  in  the  event  of  its  being 
called  into  existence. 

During  April,  1913,  the  movement  to  resist 
Home  Rule  was  concentrated  on  the  organisation 
of  the  Volunteer  Force.  The  invitation  to  join 
the  Force  met  with  a  good  response,  and  at  the 
end  of  April  it  was  reported  that  41,000  people 
had  agreed  to  join— 20,000  in  Belfast  and  21,000 
in  the  rest  of  Ulster.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
stated  that  rifles  had  been  purchased  to  some 
extent  by  Unignist  Clubs  and  private  indi- 
viduals. The  Orange  Order  took  up  the  Volun- 
teer movement  and  urged  its  members  to  join; 
and  the  City  of  Belfast  was  divided  into  sections, 
over  which  commanders  were  appointed  in  order 
to  mobilise  the  Force  quickly. 

In  August  the  organised  hostilities  of  Union- 
ists towards  the  Home  Rule  Bill  became  more 
marked.  The  Home  Rule  question,  to  a  large 
extent  a  religious  one,  aroused  a  very  bitter 
sectarian  feeling,  which  was  further  accentuated 
by  rioting  which  broke  out  at  Londonderry  on 
12th  August,  the  anniversary  of  the  Relief  of 
Derry  in  1689.  A  large  number  of  Orangemen 
and  "  'Prentice  Boys  "  went  by  special  train 
from  Belfast  and  other  places  to  take  part  in  the 
celebration.  These  excursionists  on  their  way 
through  the  country  kept  up  an  almost  continuous 
fusilade  of  revolver  shots  from  the  train,  though 
happily  this  feu-de-joie  was  unaccompanied  by 
fatalities.     In  the  riot  in  Londonderry  firearms 


THE    QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.^      335 

^ere  freely  used  by  the  crowd,  and  a  constable 
received  a  dangerous  bullet  wound.  The  dis- 
turbance was  renewed  on  the  night  of  14th 
August,  when  a  citizen  named  Armstrong  was 
shot  dead.  Nearly  all  the  Unionists  of  every  age 
in  Londonderry  carried  revolvers  at  this  time, 
and  it  was  believed  that  the  Nationalists  were 
also  arming  themselves  with  modern  weapons. 

The  Ulster  Volunteer  Force  was  now  being 
organised  on  a  military  footing,  with  a  General 
Officer  and  Headquarters  Staff  at  Belfast. 
Efforts  were  made  in  the  City  to  enlist  the  hooli- 
gan element,  as  the  leaders  of  Unionism  were 
anxious  to  acquire  a  disciplinary  control  over 
that  class.  The  strength  of  the  Ulster  Volunteer 
Force  on  30th  September,  1913,  was  56,651,  dis- 
tributed as  follows  : 

County.  Strength. 


Antrim 

10,067 

Armagh 

5,447 

Belfast 

10,700 

Cavan 

2,730 

Donegal 

1,178 

Down 

11,611 

Fermanagh 

2,090* 

Londonderry 

4,510 

Monaghan 

1,209 

Tyrone 

7,109 

Total  56,651 

Including  the  Enniskillen  HorBe  of  230  men. 


336      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Party  feeling  could  hardly  be  more  intense 
than  it  was  at  this  period,  but  at  the  same  time 
the  Commissioner  of  Police  at  Belfast  reported 
that  anything  in  the  nature  of  compromise  would 
be  a  relief  to  both  sides;  for  although  deeply 
determined,  neither  party  looked  forward  with 
any  pleasure  to  the  prospect  of  riot  and  blood- 
shed. 

On  23rd  September  a  conference  of  the  Irish 
Unionist  Parliamentary  Party  was  held  at 
Craigavon,  near  Belfast,  when  arrangements 
were  completed  for  the  meeting  of  the  Ulster 
Unionist  Council  on  the  following  day.  This 
meeting  took  place  as  arranged.  The  gathering 
numbered  between  500  and  600,  and  every  dis- 
trict of  the  Province  was  represented.  The 
meeting  was  conducted  in  private,  but  an  <^cial 
report  of  the  proceedings  was  subsequently  sup- 
plied to  the  Press,  according  to  which  a 
Provisional  Government  Executive  and  a  number 
of  Committees  were  appointed  to  carry  on  the 
government  of  Ulster  in  the  event  of  the  Home 
Rule  Bill  becoming  law.  It  was  also  decided  to 
raise  an  Indemnity  Fund  of  £1,000,000  to 
indemnify  the  members  of  the  Ulster  Volunteer 
Force  and  their  dependents  in  respect  of  any 
personal  injury  or  loss  of  life  sustained  by  them 
in  the  execution  of  any  order  of  the  Provisional 
Government. 

Towards  the  end  of  January,  1914,  steps  were 
taken  in  Belfast  to  organise  a  Corps  of  3,000 
men  specially  selected  from  the  Ulster  Volunteer 
Force.      The  members   of   this   Corps  were  to 


THE    QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.       337 

receive  £1  per  week,  free  mess  and  uniform.  The 
decision  to  organise  this  Corps  was  come  to,  it 
was  understood,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Standing 
Committee  of  the  Ulster  Volunteer  Force  on  20th 
January.  The  objects  for  which  this  Corps  was 
raised  were  not  definitely  known  at  the  time,  but 
it  was  probably  intended  for  use  in  policing  Bel- 
fast in  the  event  of  a  Provisional  Government 
being  established. 

The  members  of  the  Ulster  Volunteer  Force 
were  observed  by  the  police  to  be  particularly 
active  on  the  night  of  19th  March  and  for  a  short 
time  subsequently.  Generally  throughout  Ulster 
there  were  some  steps  taken  for  a  quick  mobilisa- 
tion on  the  night  of  20th  March,  and  in  several 
districts  considerable  numbers  of  the  Volunteers 
answered  to  the  call  for  mobilisation.  In  the 
County  of  Tyrone  it  is  stated  that  the  total  num- 
ber of  men  assembled  at  the  various  centres 
amounted  to  upwards  of  7,500. 

During  the  month  of  March  the  organisation  of 
the  Ulster  Volunteer  Force  went  steadily  on. 
Considerable  quantities  of  military  equipment — 
uniforms,  haversacks,  bandoliers,  etc. — were  im- 
ported into  Ulster  and  served  out  generally 
throughout  the  Province.  Medical  stores  in 
considerable  quantity  were  also  imported  and 
distributed  among  the  branches  of  the  Ambu- 
lance and  Nursing  Corps,  of  which  sixteen  were 
formed  during  the  first  three  months  of  the  year. 
In  addition,  it  was  stated  that  a  number  of 
private  houses  had  been  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  organisation  for  use  as  hospitals  in  the 

w 


338      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

event  of  their  being  required  as  such,  many  of 
these  houses  being  the  residences  of  leading 
Unionists  in  the  Province. 

On  several  occasions  about  this  time  members 
of  the  Despatch  Riders  and  Signalling  Corps  of 
the  Volunteer  Force  were  observed  to  be  engaged 
in  carrying  despatches  on  motor-cycles  through- 
out the  Province.  These  despatch-riders  had  in 
many  cases  maps  of  their  routes  with  the  houses 
on  the  road  marked  '  Protestant  '  or  '  Catholic  ' 
as  the  case  might  be,  for  the  guidance  of  the 
riders  in  case  of  accident.  Protestant  houses 
were  marked  *  friendly  '  or  '  doubtful  '  accord- 
ing to  the  politics  of  their  occupants. 

The  following  table  shows  the  strength  of  the 
Ulster  Volunteer  Force  in  the  several  Counties 
of  Ulster  on  31st  March,  1914,  and  the  number 
of  rifles  believed  to  be  in  the  possession  of 
Unionists  on  that  date  : — 


Coanty 

Name  of  Begiment 

No.  of 
Battal'ns 

strength 

Total 

County 
Strength 

No.  of 
Bifles 

Antrim 

South  Antrim 
Central     „ 
North        „ 

Armagh 

3 
3 
2 

7 

4,009 
5,118 

2,461 

11,588 

5,740 

Armagh 

7,378 

3,010 

Belfast 

North  Belfast 
South       „ 
East         „ 
West        „ 

Cavan 

7 
7 
7 
2 

3 

7,596 
6,400 
9,113 
1,400 

24,509 

4,528 

Caran 

3,406 

2,676 

Donegal 

Donegal 

4 

3,099 

1,299 

Down 

North  Down 
East         „ 
West        „ 
South       „ 

Fermanagh    ... 

2 

3 
2 
3 

3 

2,715 
3,783 
1,603 
2,820 

10,921 

4,120 

Fermanagh    . . . 

2,920 

183 

Londonderry  ... 

Derry  City 
„      Coanty 

Monaghan 

4 
4 

2 

3,475 
5,630 

9,105 

655 

Monaghan 

2,070 

561 

Tyrone 

Tyrone 

5 

9,544 

2,107 

Totals 

19 

73 

84,540 

24,879 

340      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Tension  in  Ulster  increased  rapidly  until 
'  The  Curragh  Incident,'  and  it  is  difficult  to 
say  what  might  have  been  the  outcome  had  not 
the  outbreak  of  war  changed  the  whole  aspect  of 
affairs.  The  war  averted  all  chance  of  a  Home 
Rule  Bill,  unacceptable  to  Ulster,  becoming  law ; 
and  consequently  Unionist  activity  in  the 
Province  diminished.  The  anniversaries  of  the 
Battle  of  the  Boyne  (July  12th)  and  the  Relief 
of  Derry  (August  12th)  have  always  been  the 
occasions  for  a  certain  show  of  party  feeling,  and 
as  the  Home  Rule  issue  became  less  urgent,  so 
disturbance  in  Ulster  tended  to  partake  more  and 
more  of  the  nature  of  a  faction  fight.  The  old 
feud  between  Nationalists  and  Unionists  became, 
during  the  war  and  after  it,  obscured  by 
religious  differences  between  Protestants  and 
Catholics.  Sinn  Fein  has  done  its  best  to  increase 
its  footing  in  Ulster,  with  a  view  to  the 
conversion  of  that  Province  to  its  policy  of  an 
Irish  Republic.  The  result  has  been  that  the 
Protestant  element  has  tended  to  regard  all  the 
Catholics  of  Ulster,  whether  they  proclaim  them- 
selves Unionists  or  Nationalists,  as  being 
in  reality  secret  agents  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
propaganda.  The  outcome  of  this  is  seen  in  the 
serious  outbreaks  which  took  place  in  1920. 
These  outbreaks  caused  widespread  destruction 
and  loss  of  life,  especially  in  the  cities  of  Belfast 
and  Londonderry,  and  they  have  led  on  the  one 
hand  to  an  economic  boycott  of  Ulster  by  Sinn 
Fein,  and  on  the  other  to  the  expulsion  of  the 
Catholic  workers  from  the  shipyards  of  Belfast. 


THE    QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.        341 

These  matters  are  dealt  with  at  greater  length 
below. 

At  the  General  Election  of  1918  the  Sinn  Fein 
party  put  forward  a  candidate  in  each  of  the 
nine  divisions  of  the  City  of  Belfast,  as  well  as 
at  Queen's  University,  and  the  party  polled 
nearly  nine  thousand  votes  in  all.  Sinn  Fein  had 
joined  with  the  Nationalists  in  the  activities  of 
the  anti-conscription  crusade,  and  gained  some 
support  in  consequence,  but  the  fact  that  the 
Nationalist  candidate  for  the  Falls  Division 
secured  a  majority  of  over  five  thousand  at  the 
General  Election  showed  that  Sinn  Fein  had  not 
made  as  much  progress  as  might  have  been 
expected,  even  in  a  quarter  most  favourable  to  its 
development.  On  two  occasions,  however,  signs 
were  visible  of  the  dangerous  nature  of  the 
Sinn  Fein  element,  in  June  and  December 
1918  respectively,  when  numbers  of  Sinn  Fein 
prisoners  in  Belfast  prison  gave  troubfe.  During 
the  December  outbreak  the  prisoners  gained 
access  to  the  roof  of  the  gaol,  and  were  promptly 
stoned  by  the  Unionist  population. 

In  County  Londonderry,  and  especially  in  the 
City,  Sinn  Fein  made  considerable  progress 
during  1918.  The  strength  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
party,  taking  the  County  and  the  City  together, 
was  not  so  great  as  that  of  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  Party;  but  in  the  case  of  the 
Election  in  the  City  the  Parliamentary  Party 
voted  for  the  Sinn  Fein  candidate,  who  was 
elected.  In  North  Derry  also  the  Parliamentary 
Party  voted  with  Sinn  Fein,  but  a  Unionist  was 


342      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

elected.  In  South  Deny  the  three  parties  voted 
independently,  and  a  Unionist  was  elected,  with 
the  Sinn  Fein  candidate  at  the  bottom  of  the  poll. 

During  1919  the  Unionist  political  organisa- 
tions were  most  active  in  Belfast  in  renewing 
their  pre-war  machinery  to  combat  any  attempt 
which  might  be  made  to  coerce  Ulster  or  any  part 
of  it  into  any  form  of  Home  Rule.  The  chief  of 
these  organisations  were  the  Unionist  Clubs,  and 
as  they  w^ere  quiescent  during  the  war,  steps  were 
taken  to  have  them  reorganised,  new  and  active 
officers  being  appointed  to  bring  them  up  to  their 
pre-war  state  of  activity.  The  general  effect  of 
these  Clubs  was  to  bring  together  the  forces 
of  Unionism  into  a  compact  body  which,  from 
its  weight  and  power,  secured  a  controlling 
influence  as  far  as  the  North  of  Ireland  was 
concerned. 

No  attempt  was  made  during  1919  to  revive 
the  Ulster  Volunteer  Force,  or  any  other  armed 
Force,  nor  could  it  be  said  that  there  was  any- 
thing like  the  same  number  of  Unionists  so  deadly 
in  earnest  in  their  attitude  towards  self- 
government  for  Ireland  as  there  were  before  the 
war.  On  the  other  hand  Sinn  Fein,  in  spite  of 
every  effort,  failed  to  improve  its  holding  in 
Belfast  to  any  appreciable  extent. 

During  June,  1920,  there  was  serious  rioting 
in  Derry  City.  The  trouble  began  on  the  19th, 
and  quickly  assumed  grave  proportions.  The 
population  of  the  City  is  approximately  equally 
divided  into  Nationalists  and  Unionists,  and  the 
City  has  always  been  a  danger-spot  for  the  out- 


THE    QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.        343 

break  of  sectarian  disturbances.  By  the  21st 
trade  and  business  were  at  a  standstill,  and  the 
citizens  were  afraid  to  appear  in  the  streets, 
owing  to  the  activities  of  the  rival  mobs,  who 
used  their  weapons  indiscriminately.  The 
magistrates  and  representative  citizens  sent  an 
urgent  message  to  the  authorities  requesting 
further  military  protection,  and  the  proclamation 
of  martial  law.  The  attitude  of  the  authorities, 
however,  was  that  while  they  were  willing  to 
send  as  many  troops  and  police  as  might  be 
necessary  to  preserve  order,  the  proclamation  of 
martial  law  could  be  no  remedy  for  a  constantly 
recurring  state  of  disorder.  The  proper  course 
was  for  joint  action  by  responsible  leaders  on 
both  sides  to  enforce  order  upon  their  followers. 
During  the  early  morning  of  the  22nd  two 
civilians  were  killed  and  two  wounded  in 
desultory  firing  which  continued  until  the  after- 
noon of  the  23rd.  The  position  in  the  City  at 
this  time  was  that  sniping  was  being  carried  on 
from  various  points  of  vantage,  together  with 
burning  and  looting  of  shops.  The  magistrates 
again  communicated  with  the  authorities, 
receiving  the  reply  that  further  troops  had  been 
sent  and  that  every  effort  was  being  made  to  get 
the  situation  in  hand.  On  the  24th  the  state  of 
affairs  improved  somewhat,  although  parties  of 
police  and  troops  were  fired  upon  at  intervals, 
and  on  the  25th  the  original  suggestion  of  the 
authorities  was  acted  upon.  A  meeting  was 
held  at  which  the  two  joint  Under-Secretaries, 
clergymen  of  all  denominations,  members  of  the 


344      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  and  of  the  Harbour 
Board,  and  representatives  of  all  the  commercial 
interests  of  the  City  were  present.  It  was 
decided  that  business  in  the  City  should  be 
resumed  at  once,  and  the  members  of  the  meeting 
pledged  themselves  to  use  their  influence  to  bring 
about  a  spirit  of  peace  and  goodwill  between  all 
classes  and  parties  in  the  City.  A  Committee 
was  formed  to  carry  out  this  policy,  and  b/  its 
good  offices  peace  was  gradually  restored. 

On  27th  June  symptoms  of  disorder  again 
appeared  in  Belfast.  Shops  and  houses  belonging 
to  Catholics  were  attacked  and  looted,  and 
considerable  firing  and  stone- thro  wing  took  place 
in  the  streets.  The  situation  appeared  very 
threatening  for  a  time,  but  the  excitement 
subsided  before  any  great  damage  was  done.  A 
significant  symptom  was  the  appearance  on  the 
waUs  of  houses  of  threats  against  Sinn  Feiners, 
ordering  them  to  leave  the  City  before  the  1st 
July. 

The  celebrations  of  the  July  Anniversaries  of 
1920  in  North  East  Ulster  were  attended  by  no 
disorder,  and  the  leaders  of  both  political  parties 
contributed  material  assistance  to  the  Police  and 
Military  Authorities  in  the  maintenance  of  order 
in  that  district.  A  striking  instance  of  this 
occurred  at  Lurgan  on  14th  July,  when  rival 
crowds  assembled  in  the  vicinity  of  the  barracks, 
where  a  Sinn  Fein  prisoner  had  been  lodged.  A 
serious  riot  appeared  to  be  in  prospect  but  was 
averted  by  the  prompt  action  of  the  District 
Inspector  of  Police,  who  at  once  obtained  Police 


THE    QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.        345 

and  Military  reinforcements,  and  with  the 
assistance  of  men  of  both  political  parties 
succeeded  in  dispersing  the  crowds  before  a 
collision  occurred. 

Unfortunately,  however,  events  proved  that 
disorder  was  only  postponed.  Rioting  on  an 
extensive  scale  broke  out  in  Belfast  about  noon 
on  21st  July,  and  continued  without  intermission 
for  three  days  and  nights,  resulting  in  the  loss  of 
many  lives  and  much  destruction  of  property. 
The  origin  of  the  trouble  was  a  meeting  of 
Unionist  workmen  during  the  dinner  hour  of  the 
21st,  at  which  it  was  decided  to  expel  all 
Catholics  from  the  shipyards.  It  was  alleged 
that  a  few  Sinn  Feiners  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
meeting  indulged  in  provocative  and  seditious 
remarks.  At  3  p.m.  attacks  began  to  be  made 
upon  Catholics  in  the  yards,  several  men  being 
thrown  into  the  water,  and  others  badly  beaten. 
These  attacks  continued  until  about  4-30,  when 
police  and  troops  arrived  on  the  scene. 

In  consequence  of  this  outbreak  and  of  wild 
rumours  that  a  number  of  Catholics  had  been 
killed,  party  feeling  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
City  soon  reached  a  state  of  intense  excitement, 
and  fierce  rioting  began  about  6  p.m.  The  Police 
were  unable  to  separate  the  crowds,  who  attacked 
each  other  with  bricks  and  stones.  The  troops 
were  called  upon  to  intervene  about  8-15  p.m., 
and  later  a  party  of  troops  and  Police,  going  to 
assist  a  body  of  workers  who  were  unable  to 
leave  a  workshop  in  the  Falls  Road,  were 
heavily  stoned  by  a  Nationalist  crowd,  who  also 


346      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

fired  several  revolver  shots.  After  a  number  of 
the  police  and  military  had  been  injured,  the 
troops  found  it  necessary  to  fire,  and  one  man 
was  killed.  The  firing  had  the  effect  of  quieting 
matters  for  a  short  time,  but  rioting  was  again 
resumed  with  fierce  stone-throwing  and  revolver 
shots,  and  the  troops  were  again  called  upon  to 
fire,  with  the  result  that  two  men  were  killed, 
both  members  of  the  attacking  Nationalist  crowd. 
Later,  after  dusk  had  set  in,  a  band  of  hooligans 
extinguished  the  street  lamps  and  fired  revolver 
shots  at  the  police  and  troops,  who  were  once  more 
compelled  to  fire,  with  the  result  that  a  woman 
was  killed. 

During  the  night  a  large  part  of  the  City  was 
given  over  to  looting  and  considerable  damage 
was  done  to  property,  mainly  spirit-grocers  and 
public-houses.  Matters  quieted  down  the  follow- 
ing day,  but  gangs  of  Unionists  visited  a  number 
of  industrial  establishments  on  the  look-out  for 
Catholic  workmen  whom  they  wanted  to  expel 
from  the  works,  and  sporadic  outbreaks  of  looting 
and  rioting  took  place.  The  situation  again 
became  serious  towards  evening,  when  a  large 
Unionist  crowd,  many  of  whom  were  heavily 
intoxicated,  made  an  attack  on  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  St.  Matthew.  The  troops 
and  police  endeavouring  to  protect  the  church 
were  fired  on  by  the  crowd,  and  a  soldier  and 
several  policemen  were  badly  wounded.  In 
order  to  dislodge  the  crowd  the  troops  were 
compelled  to  open  fire  with  Lewis  guns,  and 
several    people    were    killed.      In    the    district 


THE    QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.        347 

between  Shankhill  Hoad  and  Falls  Road,  hostile 
crowds  assembled  and  fired  at  one  another  and  at 
the  troops.  After  several  persons  of  both  parties 
had  been  killed  and  a  large  number  wounded, 
the  troops  were  eventually  compelled  to  use 
machine-guns  to  disperse  the  crowds. 

On  the  following  day  (23rd  July)  the  state  of 
the  City  was  much  quieter,  but  about  10  p.m.  a 
huge  crowd  attacked  and  set  fire  to  a  convent  in 
the  vicinity  of  St.  Matthew's  Church;  the  flames, 
however,  were  quickly  extinguished  by  the  fire- 
brigade.  The  crowd  then  fired  at  the  troops, 
who  returned  the  fire  and  soon  restored  order. 
No  further  dangerous  riots  occurred,  and 
although  looting  continued,  there  were  no  serious 
incidents.  The  total  number  of  deaths  recorded 
for  the  three  days  was  eighteen,  and  it  is  believed 
that  several  others  occurred.  Over  two  hundred 
arrests  for  assaults  and  looting  were  effected. 

The  clergy  of  all  denominations  assisted  in 
organising  peace  patrols  on  the  24th,  and  these 
were  of  great  assistance  to  the  police  in 
preventing  further  disturbances.  A  proclamation 
issued  by  the  Lord  Mayor  on  the  26th  called  upon 
all  citizens  to  devote  their  best  efforts  to  the 
restoration  of  law  and  order,  and  stated  that  the 
authorities  would  take  the  most  drastic  measures 
to  deal  with  disorders  of  any  kind. 

On  the  22nd,  23rd  and  24th  attacks  were  made 
on  the  houses  and  shops  of  Catholic  residents  in 
the  neighbouring  towns  of  Dromore,  Banbridge 
and  Bangor.  Two  civilians  were  killed  and 
several  injured,  and  a  considerable  amount  of 


348      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

destruction  of  property  and  looting  took  place. 
Disturbances  of  a  less  serious  nature  also  took 
place  in  Lisburn  and  Ballymena. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  City  Council  of 
Belfast  was  held  on  31st  July,  on  the  requisition 
of  a  small  number  of  Nationalist  and  Labour 
members,  to  consider  a  resolution  calling  upon 
the  Council  to  use  its  influence  with  employers 
and  others  concerned  with  a  view  to  enabling  the 
displaced  Catholic  workmen  to  return  to  their 
employment.  An  amendment  to  the  effect  that 
this  object  could  only  be  obtained  when  the 
criminals  responsible  for  the  assassinations 
committed  in  the  South  of  Ireland  had  been 
brought  to  justice  was  carried  by  35  votes  to  5. 

A  slight  recurrence  of  disorder  took  place  in 
Belfast  City  on  the  night  of  15th  August. 
Bonfires  were  lighted  in  Seaforth  Street  and 
Short  Strand,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  hoist 
a  Sinn  Fein  flag  in  the  latter  area.  It  became 
evident  that  party  feeling  was  unlikely  to  subside 
so  long  as  the  policy  of  excluding  Catholics  from 
the  shipyards  was  persisted  in.  The  suggested 
imposition  of  an  anti-Sinn  Fein  declaration  upon 
Catholic  workmen  by  their  Protestant  fellows 
was  keenly  resented  by  the  former,  many  of 
whom  were  ex-Service  men,  and  in  every  case 
they  refused  to  comply  with  this  condition. 
Unfortunately  the  efforts  made  by  Ulster 
employers  to  secure  their  return  met  with  very 
little  success. 

The  murder  of  District  Inspector  Swanzy 
in      Lisburn     on      22nd      August      and      the 


THE    QUESTION   OF    ULSTER.        349 

consequent  disorders  in  that  town  had  an 
immediate  effect  upon  party  feeling  all  over 
Ulster.  Further  expulsions  from  the  Belfast 
shipyards  took  place,  and  attacks  were  made  on 
public-houses  and  spirit-groceries  in  Bally- 
macarett,  a  Catholic  area.  Several  encounters 
between  opposing  crowds  of  the  rougher  element 
of  the  City  resulted  in  a  number  of  serious 
injuries  on  both  sides,  but  the  police  succeeded 
in  restoring  order  without  calling  upon  the 
assistance  of  the  troops.  On  the  25th,  however, 
rioting  and  stonethrowing  on  a  dangerous  scale 
broke  out  in  various  parts  of  the  City,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  call  upon  the  troops  to  assist 
in  quelling  the  disturbances.  Over  thirty  houses 
were  set  on  fire,  and  a  considerable  amount  of 
looting  and  destruction  of  property  took  place. 
The  troops  were  attacked  and  fired  upon,  and 
were  compelled  to  return  the  fire,  with  the  result 
that  a  man  was  killed  and  two  women  wounded. 

On  the  27th,  the  Lord  Mayor  issued  an  urgent 
appeal  through  the  Press,  calling  upon  citizens 
to  remain  within  their  own  districts  and  to 
support  the  efforts  of  the  Authorities  in  restoring 
order  in  the  City.  A  number  of  Special 
Constables  were  enrolled,  and  a  stringent  Curfew 
order  was  made  to  come  into  force  on  the  31st. 

The  uncompromising  hostility  displayed 
towards  the  Catholic  workers  in  the  Belfast 
shipyards  provoked  serious  resentment  in  the 
South  of  Ireland,  and  especially  among  the  Sinn 
Fein  element.  Dail  Eireann  proclaimed  a  boycott 
of  Ulster  trade  as  a  measure  of  retaliation,  and 


350       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

immediate  steps  were  taken  to  make  this  boycott 
effective.  Travellers  representing  Ulster  firms 
were  expelled  from  Nationalist  and  Sinn  Fein 
districts,  bread  vans  belonging  to  Ulster 
distributors  were  destroyed,  and  a  series  of 
attacks  were  made  on  property  belonging  to 
Ulster  business  houses.  A  serious  outrage  of  this 
character  was  perpetrated  in  Dundalk  on  the 
morning  of  the  27th,  when  a  large  drapery 
establishment  was  set  on  fire  and  three  shop 
assistants  sleeping  in  the  building  were  burnt  to 
death. 

Strict  enforcement  of  the  Curfew  order  had 
the  effect  of  gradually  restoring  order  in  Belfast. 
By  5th  September  peaceful  conditions  had  been 
practically  regained,  and  although  Catholic 
workmen  were  still  intimidated  from  returning  to 
work  in  the  shipyards,  numbers  engaged  in 
other  occupations  were  able  to  resume  employ- 
ment. Much  credit  was  due  to  the  police  and 
troops  for  their  efforts  in  restoring  order  :  both 
Forces  displaying  admirable  restraint  and 
discipline  under  extremely  trying  conditions. 

The  unemployment  of  the  Catholic  shipyard 
workers  continued,  however.  At  the  beginning 
of  September  some  eight  thousand  workers  in 
Belfast  were  idle  owing  to  political  and  religious 
troubles.  In  some  cases  the  Trades  Unions  were 
paying  out-of-work  donations,  and  in  all  cases 
the  National  Insurance  allotment  was  paid.  A 
public  subscription  fund  was  opened  for  the 
whole  of  Ireland  and  secured  a  liberal  response. 
Employers    and    managers    were    anxious    that 


THE    QUESTION   OF    ULSTER.        351 

Catholics  should  be  allowed  to  resume  employ- 
ment, but  feeling  was  very  bitter  among  the 
Protestant  workers,  who  insisted  upon  the 
imposition  of  a  signed  declaration  against  Sinn 
Tein  as  a  condition  of  the  readmission  of 
Catholics  to  the  works.  The  Catholics  refused  to 
sign  this  document,  and  the  deadlock  continued. 

Early  in  September  the  appointment  of 
an  additional  Assistant  Under-Secretary  was 
decided  upon,  in  order  that  a  representative  of 
the  Irish  Government  might  be  permanently  in 
Belfast,  and  on  the  16th  Sir  Ernest  Clarke 
proceeded  to  the  City  to  take  up  this  appoint- 
ment. His  first  activities  were  directed  towards 
solving  the  question  of  the  resumption  of  work 
by  the  Catholic  shipyard  men.  Owing  largely  to 
his  efforts  an  arrangement  Was  come  to  whereby 
the  Protestants  agreed  to  substitute,  for  the 
condition  that  Catholics  desiring  to  i*eturn  to 
work  should  sign  a  declaration  disclaiming 
adherence  to  Sinn  Fein,  an  honourable  under- 
standing that  any  man  taking  advantage  of  a 
general  permission  to  return  should  be  regarded 
as  having  by  so  doing  signified  his  loyalty  to  the 
Crown  and  his  disapproval  of  attempts  to  subvert 
the  Constitution  by  outrage  and  violence.  It 
was  confidently  expected  that  a  general 
resumption  of  work  on  these  terms  would  begin 
on  27th  September. 

But  a  section  of  the  Sinn  Fein  party  desired 
nothing  less  than  a  settlement  and  the  cessation 
of  anarchy  which  such  a  settlement  would  bring. 
On  the  morning  of  the  26th,  two  separate  parties 


352      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

of  police,  engaged  in  the  performance  of  their 
ordinary  duties,  were  almost  simultaneously 
attacked  by  armed  men,  with  the  result  that  one 
constable  was  murdered  in  cold  blood  and  two 
others  wounded.  Immediately  following  these 
outrages  three  prominent  Sinn  Feiners  were  shot 
in  their  houses  by  unknown  civilians,  and  a 
general  outbreak  of  party  rioting  took  place. 
Order  was  eventually  restored,  but  all  hope  of 
the  possibility  of  a  peaceful  return  to  work  by 
the  Catholics  was  past.  None  of  the  expelled 
workers  returned,  and  an  added  complication 
was  produced  by  the  action  of  the  Carpenters' 
and  Joiners'  Union,  which  forbade  any  of  its 
members  to  continue  working  unless  the  ban 
upon  Catholics  were  withdrawn.  This  order 
threatened  to  cause  very  serious  distress  in  the 
City,  but  it  was  not  very  generally  obeyed. 

During  the  period  from  June  to  September, 
1920,  20  civilian  deaths  are  known  to  have 
occurred  during  rioting  in  Derry,  and  62  during 
rioting  in  Belfast. 

Disturbances  in  Ulster  have  always  been 
attributable  to  religious  rather  than  to  political 
causes,  except  during  those  periods  when 
legislation  has  been  threatened  which  would 
bring  Ulster  under  the  power  of  a  Southern 
majority.  The  most  hopeful  sign  of  peace  in  the 
North  occurred  during  the  debate  on  the  Third 
Reading  of  the  Gt)vernment  of  Ireland  Bill  in 
the  House  of  Commons  on  Armistice  Day,  11th 
November,  1920,  when  Sir  Edward  Carson, 
speaking  as  the  leader  of  Ulster  opinion,  said  : 


THE   QUESTION   OF   ULSTER.       353 

**  As  far  as  I  understand  the  facts  the  Ulster 
people,  having  accepted  the  view  of  the  Govern- 
ment that  it  was  essential  that  they  should  be 
put  under  a  Parliament  of  their  own,  which  they 
did  not  ask  for,  have  set  themselves  to  get  ready 
for  that  Parliament,  and  they  have  resolved 
and  determined  to  work  it  in  the  best  interests 
of  their  own  country  and  of  the  Empire.  ...  I 
am  now  even  better  fitted  than  before  to  give  the 
pledge  that  Ulster  will  do  its  best  to  perform  the 
obligations  put  upon  it  under  this  Bill." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

IRELAND    AND     AMERICA. 

The  interest  of  America  in  the  Irish  Question 
dates  from  the  time  when  that  great  country  first 
opened  her  shores  to  colonisation,  that  is  from  the 
very  dawn  of  her  history.  The  Irish  have  always 
sought  in  a  new  land  that  prosperity  which  their 
own  country  failed  to  afford  them.  In  the  case 
of  America,  geographical  considerations  have 
influenced  the  trend  of  emigration.  Ireland,  the 
western  outpost  of  Europe,  almost  necessarily 
stretches  out  her  hands  to  America,  endeavour- 
ing to  bridge  the  intervening  ocean  with  a  bond 
of  sympathy  and  understanding.  She  has  sent 
her  sons  out  to  the  Promised  Land,  to  become 
citizens  of  the  New  Republic,  not  perhaps  quite 
realising  that  the  price  of  citizenship  must 
inexorably  be  the  surrender  of  the  old  nationality 
for  the  new.  There  can  be  no  misunderstanding 
upon  this  point,  loth  though  Irishmen  may  be  to 
admit  it.  It  is  a  natural  characteristic  of  the 
race  to  wish  to  have  the  cake  and  to  eat  it  too, 
but  in  this  case  the  world's  sympathy  is  against 
it.  The  citizens  of  their  adopted  State  must  be 
Americans  first  and  before  all  things;  their 
allegiance  must  be  unquestionably  to  the  country 
of  their  adoption,  else  are  they  but  sojourners 


IRELAND  AND  AMERICA.        356 

and  scarce  trusted  guests.  There  can  be  no 
room  in  the  great  Republic  for  half-hearted 
citizens,  as  she  proved  so  uncompromisingly 
during  the  Great  War. 

Of  the  history  of  the  United  States'  interest 
in  Irish  affairs  little  need  be  said.  It  is  very 
doubtful  whether  the  Republic  as  a  whole  has 
ever  had  any  real  interest  in  Ireland.  A  noisy 
and  demonstrative  section  of  the  least  reputable 
part  of  her  population  have  always  represented 
themselves  as  the  friends  of  what  they  proclaimed 
to  be  **  Ireland,"  but  what  was  in  reality  only 
the  voice  of  the  agitator,  mainly  from  interested 
motives  and  from  a  desire  to  participate  in  the 
benefits  that  sometimes  accrue  to  those  who  fish 
in  troubled  waters.  There  are  others,  principally 
those  whose  families  have  recently  emigrated 
from  Ireland,  who  feel  the  bonds  of  association 
and  recollection  drawing  them  towards  the  Old 
Country,  and  are  ready  to  lend  themselves  to 
any  agitation  which  may  secure  what  they  believe 
to  be  the  aims  of  their  old-time  compatriots. 
But  that  the  great  body  of  true  American  opinion 
has  ever  actively  interested  itself  in  Irish  affairs 
is  a  fallacy. 

History  bears  out  this  contention.  The 
disaffected  party  in  Ireland  has  always  appealed 
for  help  to  any  nation  which  may  at  the  moment 
be  able  to  exert  an  influence  upon  England,  or 
alternatively  may  be  imfriendly  to  her.  During 
the  last  years  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  the 
appeal  was  to  France,  then  at  war  with  England. 
Later,  on  the  conclusion  of  the  Civil  War,  when 


356      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

America  was  inclined  to  blame  England  for  her 
supposed  partiality  towards  the  Confederates, 
the  Irish  thought  to  have  found  another 
champion.  To  quote  Professor  Henry's 
admirable  little  book,  The  Evolution  of  Sinn 
Fein: 

"  The  Irish  in  America  were  only  too  ready 
to  return  to  Ireland  to  overthrow  the  Government 
in  whose  authority  they  saw  the  source  of  their 
country's  misfortunes  and  their  own  exile.  On 
the  conclusion  of  the  American  War  thousands 
of  Irishmen  who  had  fought  vmder  Grant  or 
Jackson  were  ready  to  place  their  services  at  the 
disposal  of  an  Irish  leader.  But  they  found  no 
one  of  sufficient  ability  and  prestige  to  lead 
them.  Smith  O'Brien  and  the  other  survivors 
of  the  Young  Ireland  Party,  had  become  con- 
stitutionalists. John  Mitchel,  though  he  went  to 
Paris  to  act  as  treasurer  for  the  Society,  refused 
to  take  any  more  active  part.  O'Mahony  and  the 
Americans  wanted  to  equip  and  despatch  an 
expedition.  James  Stephens,  who  had  under- 
taken to  organise  the  movement  in  Ireland, 
insisted  that  American  assistance  should  be 
confined  to  money.  The  money  came  slowly,  and 
though  Stephens  could  enrol  a  revolutionary  army 
he  could  not  equip  it.  The  Americans  too 
wanted  the  rising  to  take  place  before  Stephens 
thought  the  time  was  ripe,  and  the  consequent 
quarrel  between  the  Irish  and  American  leaders^ 
was  fatal  to  the  chance  of  success.  In  any  case 
little  real  progress  was  made  until  the  year  1865, 
but  the  work  of  preparation  went  steadily  on.. 


IRELAND  AND  AMERICA.         357 

.  .  .  The  subsequent  attempt  in  '67  imder 
American  leaders  fared  no  better;  and  General 
Massey,  arrested  at  Limerick  Junction,  judged 
it  better  to  avoid  bloodshed  by  giving  full 
information  to  the  Grovernment." 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  appeal  to  the  '  Irish 
in  America  ' — not  the  American  Nation,  be  it 
observed.  The  American  Nation  was  not  the 
enemy  of  England,  and  was  not  therefore  likely 
to  give  countenance  to  the  rebel  tendencies  of  an 
insignificant  section  of  the  latter's  subjects.  The 
disaffected  Irish  had  learnt  their  lesson,  and  their 
next  appeal  was  to  the  avowed  enemy  of  England, 
and,  incidentally,  of  civilisation,  though  this 
latter  fact  does  not  seem  to  have  perturbed  those 
who  boast  that  "  The  Irish,  an  ancient  race, 
enjoyed  a  civilisation  and  disseminated  learning 
before  the  invasion  by  England."  In  1914  the 
rulers  of  Imperial  Germany  threw  down  their 
challenge  to  the  world,  and  in  the  issue  of  this 
challenge  the  disaffected  Irish  once  more  saw 
their  opportunity. 

We  must  credit  them  with  a  certain  measure 
of  foresight.  In  1912  the  journal  Sinn  Fein 
contained  the  following  words  :  **  We  have,  for 
instance,  no  illusion  whatever  on  the  subject  of 
Germany.  If  Germany,  victorious  over  England, 
comes  to  Ireland,  Germany  will  come  to  stay  and 
rule  the  Atlantic  from  our  shores.  She  will  give 
us  better  terms  than  England  offers.  She  will 
give  us  that  Home  Rule  which  all  the  States 
of  the  German  Empire  enjoy.  .  .  .  We  have 
no  doubt  whatever  that  Ireland  under  German 


358      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

rule  would  be  more  prosperous  than  she  has  ever 
been  imder  the  rule  of  England." 

The  whole  story  of  the  negotiations  between 
Sinn  Fein  and  Germany  have  been  exposed  in  a 
White  Paper  entitled  Documents  relative  to  the 
Sinn  Fein  Movement  (Command  Number  1108, 
1921),  and  it  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  pursue 
the  matter  further  than  to  quote  two  extracts 
from  this  document.  The  first  is  a  letter  from 
Roger  Casement  to  Professor  Eoin  McNeill,  and 
is  as  follows  :■ — 

"  Not  to  go  through  'post  on  any  account. 

Professor  Eoin  McNeill 
19,  Herbert  Park, 

Ballsbridge,  Dublin.  Berlin. 

28th  November,  1914. 

"  Please  have  this  official  declaration  of  the 
German  Government,  stating  its  intentions  and 
declaring  the  goodwill  of  the  German  people 
towards  Ireland  and  the  desire  of  both  Govern- 
ment and  people  for  Irish  national  freedom, 
published  throughout  Ireland  by  every  possible 
means. 

'*  You  know  who  writes  this.  I  am  in  Berlin, 
and  if  Ireland  will  do  her  duty,  rest  assured  that 
Germany  will  do  hers  towards  us,  our  cause,  and 
our  whole  future. 

"  The  enemy  are  doing  everything  to  keep  the 
truth  out  of  Ireland,  and  are  even  going  to  try 
to  get  the  Vatican  on  their  side,  as  in  the  time  of 
Parnell.  Once  our  people,  clergy  and  volunteers 
know  that  Germany,  if  victorious,  will  do  her 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  359 

best  to  aid  us  in  our  efforts  to  achieve  an 
independent  Ireland,  every  man  at  home  must 
stand  for  Germany  and  Irish  freedom. 

"  I  am  entirely  assured  of  the  goodwill  of  this 
Government  towards  our  country  and  beg  you  to 
proclaim  it  far  and  wide.  They  will  do  all  in 
their  power  to  help  us  to  win  national  freedom, 
and  it  lies  with  Ireland  and  Irishmen  themselves 
to  prove  that  they  are  worthy  to  be  free. 

"  Send  to  me  here  in  Berlin,  by  way  of 
Christiania,  if  possible,  one  or  two  thoroughly 
patriotic  Irish  priests — young  men  best.  Men 
like  Father  Murphy  of  Vinegar  Hill — and  for  the 
same  purpose. 

"  Rifles  and  ammunition  can  be  found  and 
good  officers,  too.  First  send  the  priest  or 
priests,  as  I  need  them  for  a  special  purpose  here, 
you  can  guess — for — 

"  If  the  priest  or  priests  can  get  to 
Christiania  (Norway),  they  can  get  here  through 
the  German  Legation  at  Christiania.  Our  friends 
in  America  will  pay  all  expenses.  Warn  all 
our  p^bple,  too,  of  the  present  intrigue  at  Rome 
to  bring  pressure  of  religion  to  bear  on  a  question 
wholly  political  and  national.  Our  enemy  will 
stick  at  no  crime  to-day  against  Ireland,  as  you 
will  soon  know.  This  official  declaration  of  the 
German  Government  has  been  sent  out  to  all  the 
German  representatives  abroad  for  world-wide 
publication.  It  may  be  followed  by  another  still 
more  to  the  point — but  much  depends  on  your 
staunchness  and  courage  at  home.  - 

"  Tell  all  to  trust  the  Germans — and  to  trust 


360      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

me.  We  shall  win  everything  if  you  are  brave 
and  faithful  to  the  old  cause.  Try  and  send  me 
word  here  to  Berlin  by  the  same  channel  as  this. 
Tell  me  all  your  needs  at  home,  viz.,  rifles, 
officers,  men.  Send  priest  or  priests  at  all  costs 
— one  not  afraid  to  fight  and  die  for  Ireland. 
The  enemy  are  hiding  the  truth.  The  Germans 
will  surely,  under  God,  defeat  both  Russia  and 
France  and  compel  a  peace  that  will  leave 
Germany  stronger  than  before.  They  already 
have  550,000  prisoners  of  war  in  Germany,  and 
Austria  150,000,  and  Russia  has  been  severely 
defeated  in  Poland. 

"  India  and  Egypt  will  probably  both  be  in 
arms.  Even  if  Germany  cannot  reach  England 
to-day,  we  can  only  gain  by  helping  Germany 
now,  as  with  the  understanding  come  to,  Ireland 
will  have  a  strong  and  enlightened  friend  to  help 
to  ultimate  independence. 

'*  We  may  win  everything  by  this  war  if  we 
are  true  to  Germany ;  and  if  we  do  not  win  to-day 
we  insure  international  recognition  of  Irish 
nationality  and  hand  on  an  uplifted  cause  for 
our  sons. 

* '  Reply  by  this  route :  A  letter  for  me, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Hammand,  76,  Wilhelmstrasse, 
Berlin,  to  be  enclosed  in  one  addressed  to  Messrs. 
Wambersin  and  Son,  Rotterdam." 

The  second  is  a  notice  issued  by  the  Irish 
Republicans.  Early  in  1915,  after  the  promulga- 
tion in  Ireland  of  military  orders  under  the 
Defence  of  the  Realm  Act  for  the  action  of  the 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  361 

inhabitants  in  the  event  of  invasion,  counter 
notices  were  placarded  calling  on  the  people  to 
disobey  the  orders  issued  and  to  welcome  the 
German  troops  as  friends.  The  following  is  a 
specimen  notice  :— 

**  PEOPLE    OF    WEXFORD. 

Take  no  notice  of  the  police  order  to  destroy 
your  own  property,  and  leave  your  homes  if  a 
Grerman  army  lands  in  Ireland.  When  the 
Germans  come  they  will  come  as  friends,  and  to 
put  an  end  to  English  rule  in  Ireland.  There- 
fore, stay  in  your  homes,  and  assist  as"  far  as 
possible  the  German  troops.  Any  stores,  hay, 
corn,  or  forage  taken  by  the  Germans  will  be 
paid  for  by  them," 

These  two  extracts  are  typical  of  the  evidence 
contained  in  the  White  Paper,  which  should  be 
perused  by  all  those  who  wish  to  understand  the 
Irish  point  of  view.  For  all  history,  both  recent 
and  remote,  shows  that  the  Irish  appeal  to 
America  is  based  upon  self-seeking  and  not  at 
all  upon  racial  affinity.  The  Irish  Republican 
Movement  is  and  always  has  been  the  child  of  an 
almost  incomprehensible  selfishness,  as  the  very 
title  of  its  latest  advocates,  Sinn  Fein,  '  ourselves 
alone,'  sufficiently  indicates. 

But  we  must  abandon  the  historical  aspect  of 
the  foreign  relations  of  Ireland  for  a  review  of 
the  conditions  of  the  present  day.  Finding 
Germany  a  broken  reed,  the  Irish  malcontents 
have  turned  once  more  to  America,  as  being  the 
country  whose  population  might  be  expected  to 


362      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

be  most  in  sympathy  with  Irish  ideals.  The 
so-called  President  of  the  Irish  Republic  himself 
made  the  United  States  his  headquarters  for  over 
a  year,  contriving  in  the  process  to  fall  foul  of 
an  earlier  centre  of  Irish  sympathisers,  the 
Friends  of  Irish  Freedom,  which  was  established 
in  1916.  And  for  the  last  few  years  there  has 
been  a  fog  of  misunderstanding  between  the  two 
great  cousin  nations,  America  and  England, 
which  it  should  be  the  earnest  endeavour  of  every 
true  citizen  of  either  to  dissipate. 

And  much  of  it  we  may  dissipate  with  one 
comprehensive  sweep.  It  cannot  be  too  widely 
realised  in  England  that  a  very  great  part  of  the 
Irish  Question  in  America  is  nothing  but  the 
conventional  cry  of  the  politicians,  that  the  great 
bulk  of  the  reasoning  multitude  are  no  more 
interested  in  Ireland  than  they  are  in  the  South 
Pole.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  in  America  there 
are  some  twenty  millions  of  persons  of  Irish 
descent,  the  Irish  vote  is  something  to  be  angled 
for.  Politicians  of  every  shade  of  opinion  always 
have  and  always  will  dangle  the  bait  of  speeches 
in  the  Irish  Republican  interest  before  the  noses 
of  the  electors,  whenever  such  tactics  seem  likely 
to  procure  them  votes.  We  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  are  sufficiently  aware  of  such  party 
cries,  and  of  the  sudden  oblivion  which  descends 
upon  their  subjects  when  the  fruit  of  the  cries 
themselves  has  been  harvested.  We  may  there- 
fore put  aside  from  us  such  matters  as  the  vexed 
question  of  the  Irish  ' '  plank  ' '  in  the  American 
elections  and  the  collection  of  funds  for  the  Irish 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  363 

Republican  Loans  in  the  United  States.  We  have 
one  guarantee  which  can  never  fail  us  :  that  the 
only  type  of  man  who  can  influence  American 
policy  is  the  man  who  is  a  Citizen  of  the  United 
States  first  and  an  Irishman  incidentally,  almost 
as  a  hobby,  we  might  say.  The  converse,  the  man 
who  places  his  abandoned  nationality  first  and 
his  American  citizenship  second,  is  a  man  who 
gains  nothing  but  mistrust  in  the  State  in  which 
he  dwells.  For  America  the  Irish  question  is  one 
of  politics  only,  to  be  indulged  in  at  election 
times.  What  we  are  really  interested  in,  for  the 
purposes  of  this  book,  is  the  true  attitude  of 
genuine  American  opinion  towards  the  Irish 
Question  in  Ireland. 

That  America  is  interested  to  a  certain  extent 
in  Irish  events  there  can  be  no  doubt,  even  though 
the  Irish  tragedy  may  be  merely  one  of  the  dramas 
played  before  her  upon  the  stage  of  Europe.  The 
Irish  Republicans  have  always  done  their  best  to 
present  their  case  in  the  most  favourable  light 
to  the  people  of  America,  and  in  so  doing  have 
gained  their  interest  if  not  their  sympathy.  Let 
us  endeavour  to  reproduce  their  case  as  they  have 
shown  it. 

The  chief  weapon  of  the  Irish  Republicans  in 
America  is  propaganda,  and  the  most  important 
of  the  propaganda  societies  is  the  Friends  of 
Irish  Freedom.  For  the  part  that  this  Society 
played  in  the  War,  reference  may  be  made  to  the 
White  Paper  already  mentioned.  A  single 
extract  from  it  will  suffice  for  the  present 
purpose. 


364      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

'*  Shortly  before  the  rebellion  of  Easter,  1916, 
there  was  founded  in  the  United  States  the 
association  known  as  '  The  Friends  of  Irish 
Freedom.' 

"  In  February,  1916,  Judge  Cohalan,  T.  St. 
John  Gaffney,  and  Jeremiah  A.  O'Leary  issued 
a  call  for  an  Irish  Race  Convention  which  was 
held  in  New  York  on  the  4th  and  5th  March, 
1916.  A  permanent  organisation  was  then 
formed.  The  president,  three  of  the  vice- 
presidents,  the  treasurer  and  secretary  were 
members  of  the  Clan-na-Gael.  Judge  Cohalan 
was  first  of  the  board  of  directors;  Jeremiah 
O'Leary  and  Joseph  M'Garrity  were  on  the 
executive.  Of  the  52  permanent  members  of  the 
board  of  directors  37  were  members  of  the 
Clan-na-Gael,  and  of  the  17  members  of  the 
executive  15  belonged  to  the  Clan-na-Gael.  John 
Devoy  was  one  of  the  association  and  T.  St.  John 
Gaffney  was  appointed  representative  of  the 
Friends  of  Irish  Freedom  for  Europe.  A  bureau 
was  established  at  Stockholm,  whither  Gaffney 
repaired,  and  from  there  and  at  Berlin 
maintained,  along  with  George  Chatterton-Hill, 
close  relations  between  the  German  Government 
and  the  various  Irish- American  and  Sinn  Fein 
Organisations.  De  Valera,  Monteith,  Mellowes 
and  others  of  the  Irish  Sinn  Fein  rebels  who 
went  to  America  after  the  Rebellion  became 
participators  in  the  work  of  the  Friends  of  Irish 
Freedom. 

"  This  congress  was  convoked  for  the 
purpose  of  *  arranging  means  to  enable  Ireland 


IRELAND  AND  AMERICA.        365 

to  recover  independence  after  the  war.'  The 
convention  demanded  the  recognition  of  Ireland 
as  an  independent  nation,  and  passed  a  resolution 
that 

"  *  We  hereby  appeal  to  the  Great  Powers  to 
recognise  that  Ireland  is  a  European  island  and 
not  an  English  island,  and  to  appreciate  the  fact 
that  the  complete  independence  of  Ireland  from 
the  Britannic  Empire  is  the  essential  and 
indispensable  condition  of  the  freedom  of  the 
seas.' 

"  The  Friends  of  Irish  Freedom  maintained 
close  touch  with  the  German  organisations  in 
America  both  before  and  after  the  rebellion." 

In  1920  a  pamphlet  was  published  by  *  Friends 
of  Irish  Freedom,  Inc.,  280,  Broadway,  New 
York,'  entitled  *  English  Atrocities  in  Ireland, 
A  Compilation  of  Facts  from  Court  and  Press 
Records,  by  Katherine  Hughes,  with  a  Foreword 
by  Hon.  James  D.  Phelan.'  We  need  not  concern 
ourselves  with  the  contents  of  this  pamphlet, 
except  to  say  in  passing  that  it  is  so  obviously 
propaganda  as  to  carry  very  little  conviction. 
But  it  is  of  interest  for  the  reason  that  in  the 
foreword  is  contained  the  very  essence  of  Irish 
Republican  propaganda  in  America. 

**  The  Irish,  an  ancient  race,  enjoyed  a 
civilisation  and  disseminated  learning  before  the 
invasion  by  England.  They  resent  in  this 
enlightened  age  the  denial  of  their  liberty  and 
the  indignities  and  cruelties  which  have  been 
practised    upon    them.      Ireland   will   only   be 


366      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

peaceful  when  she  is  free ;  and  the  influence  of  the 
Irish  throughout  the  world,  unless  freedom  be 
granted,  will  be  an  implacable  and  disturbing 
element.  The  only  permanent  peace  is  a  peace  of 
justice.    .    .    . 

"  The  Irish  are  actuated  by  the  spirit  of 
Liberty,  and  they  have  won  the  applause  of  the 
world  because  they  are  resolved  never  to  lay  do^vn 
their  arms." 

One  might  assume  from  a  perusal  of  Irish 
propaganda  in  America  that  Ireland  throughout 
the  last  few  years  has  been  the  scene  of  an  endless 
succession  of  brutalities  perpetrated  by  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  upon  innocent  and  harmless 
Irishmen,  that  the  '  liberty  '  by  the  spirit  of 
which  the  Irish  are  actuated,  and  for  the 
attainment  of  which  they  propose  to  be  the 
implacable  and  disturbing  element  of  the  world, 
has  been  maliciously  withheld  from  them. 

But  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  means 
by  which  Ireland,  or  rather  the  Republican 
minority  in  that  country,  has  sought  to  obtain 
'  liberty,'  which  appears  in  the  minds  of  the 
disaffected  to  be  synonymous  with  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Irish  Republic.  We  need  not  concern 
ourselves  with  the  crimes  of  the  Fenians  or  of 
the  Invincibles,  nor  even  with  the  Easter  Week 
rising  of  1916.  It  will  be  quite  sufficient  if  we 
confine  ourselves  to  the  events  of  the  last  two 
years. 

The  Irish  Republicans  would  have  us  believe 
thatt  during  that  time  their  sole  object  has  been 
to  achieve   '  liberty  '   in  the  form  of  an  Irish 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  367 

*  Republic  by  means  completely  justified  by  their 
end.  That  these  means  are  such  as  are 
universally  judged  by  civilisation  to  be  criminal 
does  not  appear  to  them  to  affect  the  matter.  It 
is  perfectly  justifiable  to  murder  the  representa- 
tives of  British  rule  in  Ireland,  with  every 
attendant  horror  of  brutality  and  treachery. 
They  are  the  instruments  of  vile  oppression,  and 
as  such  are  fair  game  for  the  patriotic  bullet. 
Never  for  a  moment  do  the  Republicans  suspect 
that  their  blood  might  soil  the  white  robes  of 
their  ideal  '  liberty.'  These  incidents  are  but 
the  events  of  a  sacred  war  waged  against  the 
powers  of  darkness  by  a  nation  struggling 
towards  the  light. 

But  let  a  hair  of  a  saintly  Republican's  head 
be  touched,  and  observe  what  a  storm  arises! 
The  enforcement  of  justice,  the  first  principle 
of  civilisation,  is  instantly  proclaimed  as  a 
manifestation  of  ruthless  oppression.  Should  a 
single  one  of  those  who  are  doing  their  best  to 
turn  their  unhappy  country  into  a  hotbed  of 
crime  and  a  wilderness  of  desolation  be  sentenced 
for  his  misdeeds,  the  Republican  propagandists 
proclaim  him  a  stainless  patriot  suffering  for  his 
native  land.  The  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  is 
a  sure  road  to  martyrdom  for  the  bloodiest 
murderer.  To  hunger-strike  is  the  sublimest  act 
of  a  hero.  By  such  strange  fictions  is  the 
Republican  cause  kept  brightly  burning. 

Now  let  us  endeavour  to  close  our  ears  to  all 
this  idealistic  clamour,  which  is  at  its  loudest  in 
America,  and  examine  the  question  of  oppression 


368      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

in    Ireland    in    the    light    of    hard    facts. 

In  addition  to  being  one  of  the  British  Isles, 
Ireland  is  an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  the  great  majority  of  her  people  have  no 
desire  that  she  should  cease  to  be  such. 

Because  a  few  idealists  have  stirred  up  a 
section  of  the  young  men  of  the  country,  who  for 
the  most  part  have  no  direct  interest  in  her 
welfare,  to  a  state  of  rebellion  against  the 
British  power,  these  idealists  have  proclaimed  a 
War  of  Secession  against  England. 

The  position  of  the  Irish  Republicans  as 
aggressors  in  a  War  of  Secession  is  not  analogous 
to  that  of  the  American  Colonists  in  1773,  who 
were  fighting  '  Taxation  without  Representa- 
tion,' and  who  would  undoubtedly  have  leapt  at 
a  far  less  generous  measure  of  '  Home  Rule  ' 
than  is  contained  in  the  present  Government  of 
Ireland  Act,  in  order  to  avoid  the  conflict.  The 
position  of  that  section  of  the  Irish  people  who 
wish  to  secede  is  far  more  approximate  to  that 
of  the  Confederate  States  in  1861.  They  wish 
to  rebel  against  long-standing  partnership,  to 
the  detriment  of  both  partners.  And  no  one  now 
will  doubt  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  which  held 
the  South  by  force  to  the  Union. 

The  methods  of  the  Irish  Republicans  have 
been  those  of  a  secret  society  of  murderers,  a  fact 
which  should  be  sufficiently  obvious  from  the 
instances  cited  in  the  previous  chapters  of  this 
book.  But  the  Irish  propagandists  make  no 
mention  of  the  deeds  of  those  whom  they  are  paid 
to    support,    and    endeavour    to    confuse    the 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  369 

issue  by  excusing  the  long  list  of  outrage  and 
destruction  as  being  justified  by  the  actions  of  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown,  whom  they  accuse  of  wanton 
brutality  and  of  *  reprisals, '  apparently  missing 
the  point  that  without  original  murders  by  the 
Republicans  there  could  have  been  no  *  reprisals  ' 
by  the  Forces  of  the  Crown. 

The  accusation  of  '  reprisals  *  first  came  into 
prominence  in  The  Irish  Bulletin,  a  multigraphed 
and  anonymous  sheet  issued  to  the  Press  by 
the- Irish  Republican  propagandists,  about  the 
middle  of  the  year  1920. 

During  1919  the  following  are  the  statistics 
of  outrages  committed  by  the  Republicans. 
Outrages  against  property  are  not  included 


Members  of  the  Police  Forces  killed 
Members  of  the  Police  Forces  wounded 
Members  of  the  Military  Forces  killed 
Members  of  the  Military  Forces  wounded 

Civilians  killed  

Civilians  wounded     


17 
39 
1 
4 
2 
5 


From  the  1st  January,  1920,  to  the  31st  July, 
1920,  the  figures  are  as  follows  : — 


Members  of  the  Police  Forces  killed 
Members  of  the  Police  Forces  wounded 
Members  of  the  Military  Forces  killed 
Members  of  the  Military  Forces  wounded 

Civilians  killed  

Civilians  wounded 

Y 


53 
69 
8 
29 
16 
40 


370      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

During  1919  the  Republican  propagandists 
themselves,  in  a  list  of  '  reprisals  '  published  in 
the  Freeman's  Journal  of  29th  September,  1920, 
and  elsewhere,  claim  only  three  '  reprisals.' 
These  were  alleged  to  have  taken  place  at  Fermoy, 
Kinsale,  and  Cork  respectively.  A  certain 
amount  of  damage  was  certainly  caused  in  these 
three  towns  by  members  of  Forces  of  the  Crown 
infuriated  by  the  murder  or  ill-treatment  of  their 
comrades,  but  the  damage  was  confined  to 
property,  and  in  no  one  of  the  three  cases  was  a 
single  civilian  injured. 

From  the  1st  January,  1920,  to  the  31st  July, 
1920,  forty-six  '  reprisals  '  were  claimed  in  the 
list  mentioned  above.  In  five  of  these  cases 
damage  was  caused  to  property  by  members  of 
the  Forces  of  the  Crown,  following  murders  of 
their  comrades  or  attacks  upon  them,  but  again 
no  civilian  was  hurt.  In  the  remaining  cases 
claimed,  either  no  incident  of  the  nature 
described  can  be  traced,  or  some  damage  was 
caused  by  the  Forces  of  the  Crown  while  acting 
in  the  necessary  discharge  of  their  duties. 

These  facts  should  be  sufficient  to  refute 
the  principal  claims  of  the  Irish  Republican 
propagandists.  For  the  rest,  the  foregoing 
chapters  of  this  book  will  provide  a  fair 
indication  of  the  state  of  Ireland  during  the 
year,  and  will  serve  to  show  how  the  terrible 
condition  of  that  unhappy  country  was  brought 
about  solely  by  the  machinations  of  those  who 
represent  themselves  as  its  saviours,  the  Irish 
Republicans. 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  371 

Before  we  leave  this  subject  of  reprisals  the 
following  document  will  be  of  interest.  It  is  an 
example  of  the  attitude  of  certain  of  the  Irish 
citizens  of  the  United  States.  It  was  received 
by  the  Chief  Secretary  through  the  post : — 

Sir  Hamar  Greenwood, 

Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,        New  York. 
London,  England.        October  24th,  1920. 
Dear  Sir, 

We  hereby  inform  and  warn  you  that  if  there 
are  any  more  reprisals  in  Ireland  on  and  after 
the  fourteenth  day  of  November,  1920,  that  the 
men  of  Irish  blood  in  this  country  and  their 
sympathisers,  will  immediately  begin  reprisals 
on  Englishmen  here,  who  are  not  citizens  of  the 
United  States. 

For  every  man,  woman  or  child  who  is 
murdered  after  the  above  date,  by  the  cowardly 
English  soldiers  and  police,  three  Englishmen  in 
this  country  will  pay  the  penalty. 

Amalgamated  Irish  Societies  of  America. 
(Sd.)    J.  V.  O'Connor, 

President. 

It  may  be  objected  that  America  draws  her 
ideas  of  the  responsibility  for  the  state  of 
Ireland,  and  her  evidence  as  to  the  brutality  of 
British  rule,  not  alone  from  the  statements  of 
propagandists  but  also  from  the  British  Press, 
of  which  a  section  appears  to  support  the  claims 
of  the  Republicans.    The  reply  to  this  objection 


372      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

is  one  that  Americans  will  be  the  first  to 
appreciate.  The  Irish  Question  is  and  always 
has  been,  in  England  as  in  America,  a  question 
of  politics.  It  is  a  political  maxim  that  what- 
ever course  the  Government  of  the  day  may 
pursue,  those  in  opposition  to  it  must  attack  that 
course  in  every  one  of  its  channels.  It  might  be 
imagined  that  the  question  of  Ireland,  being,  as 
it  is,  of  vital  importance  to  the  Empire,  would 
be  allowed  to  remain  outside  the  arena  of  party 
strife,  but  unhappily  this  is  not  so.  Attacks 
have  been  made  upon  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment not  so  much  because  the  attackers  disagree 
with  that  particular  policy  but  because  they  hope 
to  weaken  the  support  of  the  Government  in  the 
country.  These  attacks  are  liable  to  be  mistaken 
for  an  admission  that  a  section  of  the  British 
people  believe  that  the  Irish  Republicans  have 
right  upon  their  side. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  examine  even  a  small 
proportion  of  these  attacks,  but  we  may  select 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  them  for  comment. 

On  the  30th  November,  1920,  a  Commission 
appointed  by  the  British  Labour  Party  to  enquire 
into  the  whole  question  of  'reprisals'  and  violence 
in  Ireland  left  London  for  Dublin.  The  Com- 
mission returned  to  London  on  December  15th, 
during  which  period  it  travelled  over  Ireland 
collecting  evidence.  Shortly  after  its  return  it 
published  a  voluminous  Report,  which  consisted 
mainly  of  a  series  of  stories  of  incidents  gathered 
from  Sinn  Fein  sources.  The  true  object  of  the 
Report   is   somewhat   naively   revealed    in    the 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  373 

Introduction*  prefacing  it :  '*  The  main  burden 
of  our  Report  is  a  denunciation  of  the  Govern- 
ment's policy."  Which  is  exactly  what  one 
would  expect  of  a  report  published  by  a  party  in 
opposition  to  the  Grovernment. 

It  would  be  sheer  waste  of  time  to  examine  and 
refute  each  one  of  the  allegations  against  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  contained  in  this  Report; 
indeed  the  great  majority  of  them  is  incapable 
of  refutation,  being  merely  a  record  of  the 
impression  made  on  members  of  the  Commission 
by  local  gossip.  But  it  is  somewhat  unfortunate 
for  the  credibility  of  -the  Report  as  a  whole 
that  on  one  single  occasion  alone  it  reports  an 
occurrence  of  which  a  wholly  disinterested 
spectator  was  a  witness,  and  that  on  this 
occasion  this  impartial  witness  totally  disagrees 
with  the  story  as  told  in  the  Report. 

The  incident  was  the  ambush  that  took  place 
at  Ballymacelligott,  County  Kerry,  on  12th 
November,  1920,  and  the  witness  was  the  Corres- 
pondent of  The  Yorkshire  Post,  who  may  be 
allowed  to  describe  the  events  in  his  own  words. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  The  Yorkshire 
Post  of  20th  January,  1921  :— 

"  The  fight  at  Ballymacelligott,  near  Tralee, 
on  the  afternoon  of  November  12,  which  I 
described  in  The  Yorkshire  Post  at  the  time,  has 
again  come  into  prominence  by  reason  of  the 
references  to  it  in  the  '  revised  '  report  of  the 

*  Report  of  the  Labour  Commit sion  to  Ireland,  published 
by  The  Labour  Party,  33,  Eccleston  Square,  London,  S.W.l, 
1921.    Page  2,  line  15. 


374      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Labour  Commission  to  Ireland.  The  statements 
in  this  part  of  the  report  are  so  flagrantly- 
inaccurate  that  doubt  is*  cast  upon  all  the  rest. 
Impartiality  is  difficult  to  believe,  in  view  of  the 
spice  of  malice  which  appears  in  the  repeated  use 
of  the  phrases  '  The  Dublin  Castle  circus  '  and 
'  The  Battle  of  Tralee.'  The  latter  phrase  was 
certainly  not  originated  by  officials  of  the 
Government,  and  any  suggestion  that  the  party 
travelled  into  the  Tralee  district  for  '  the  fun  of 
the  thing  '  is  to  be  deplored.  County  Kerry 
holds  too  much  tragedy  to  be  made  the  object  of 
a  sporting  tour. 

"  The  nature  of  tlie  report  provokes  curiosity 
regarding  the  methods  of  the  Commission  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  investigations.  Have  they  ever, 
in  any  of  the  cases  with  which  they  have  dealt, 
made  an  attempt  to  interview  every  one  who 
could  throw  light  on  the  affair  ?  In  the  case  of 
the  fight  at  Ballymacelligot,  those  actually  pre- 
sent comprised  representatives  of  the  Dublin 
Castle  authorities,  residents  of  the  district  (in- 
cluding a  doctor  from  Tralee),  two  London 
cinema  operators  in  the  employ  of  Pathe  Fr^res, 
Limited,  and  myself,  as  representative  of  an 
English  newspaper. 

"  Perhaps  the  Commission  found  during  their 
short  stay,  as,  I  suppose,  most  investigators  have 
discovered,  that  it  is  sometimes  extremely  diffi- 
cult for  the  inquirer  to  make  up  his  mind  what  is 
the  truth  of  certain  affairs  which  have  happened 
in  Ireland.  What  is  usually  a  fairly  simple 
matter  in  England  is  complicated  in  Ireland  by 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  375 

racial  antagonism,  religious  prejudice,  the  fear 
of  reprisal,  and  the  nimble  imagination  and 
almost  reckless  eloquence  of  the  typical  Irish- 
man. The  forensic  power  and  agile  wit  and 
fancy  which  have  been  such  a  delight  to  play- 
goers and  book-lovers,  are  sometimes  a  great ' 
hindrance  when  a  man  is  simply  searching  for 
the  naked  truth.  They  are  apt  to  confuse  the 
issue.  Still,  they  provide  no  excuse  for  the 
abandonment  of  the  search  for  any  avenue  which 
may  lead  to  the  truth,  and  they  do  not  absolve 
the  perpetrators  of  such  an  astounding  statement  • 
as  The  story  of  the  ambush  is  due,  a'p^rently,  to 
the  hectic  imagination  of  those  from  whom  the 
Chief  Secretary  obtained  his  information.  .  .  . 
'  The  battle  of  Tralee  '  is  a  figment  of  the  im- 
agination, though  no  doubt  the  'participants  on 
the  Government  side  will  still  believe  that  '  'twas 
a  famous  victory.' 

* '  As  one  who  was  an  actual  eye-witness  of  the 
affair,  and  was  not  responsible  for  any  of  the 
information  conveyed  to  Sir  Hamar  Greenwood, 
perhaps  I  may  be  pardoned  for  contributing  my 
comments,  unsolicited  by  the  Commission,  upon 
certain  statements,  in  the  order  in  which  they 
occur. 

**  (1)  The  members  of  the  Commission  were 
unable  to  obtain  any  corroboration  of  the  allega- 
tion that,  on  the  morning  of  November  12,  police 
were  fired  on  from  the  creamery.  On  the  after- 
noon of  the  same  day  a  party  of  journalists  and 
photographers  were  stated  to  have  been  fired 
upon  from  the  creamery  and  the  manager's  house, 


376      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

and  dozens  of  shots  rang  out.  We  frankly  do 
not  believe  a  word  of  this  statement. —  As  I  was 
not  present  on  the  morning  of  the  12th,  I  am 
unable  to  give  personal  testimony  on  what  hap- 
pened then.  Unless  the  second  part  is  mere 
quibbling  in  the  matter  of  words,  it  is  quite 
inaccurate.  If  it  is  suggested  that  no  journalist 
or  photographer  was  in  the  party,  I  can  only 
repeat  my  former  statement  that  it  included  two 
photographers  and  myself.  In  addition,  there 
was  present  a  former  well-known  writer  in  Fleet 
Street.  The  creamery  itself  abutted  upon  the 
road,  with  the  manager's  house  perhaps  thirty 
yards  away  in  the  rear,  and  behind  this,  a  few 
hundred  yards  distant,  lay  three  or  four  home- 
steads. The  car  in  which  I  travelled  was  not 
more  than  a  hundred  yards  behind  the  first  car, 
travelling  at  about  twenty-five  miles  an  hour, 
and  as  it  passed  the  creamery  shots  rang  out. 
Before  I  could  climb  out  of  the  car,  which  was 
stopped  immediately,  three  bullets  whizzed  past 
my  head,  and  two  more  came  unpleasantly  near 
before  I  could  reach  the  side  of  the  road.  Thence- 
forward, for  some  twenty-five  minutes — they 
were  timed — bullets  came  across  the  road  pretty 
constantly.  They  were  real  bullets.  Some  of 
them  hit  up  the  mud  at  the  other  side  of  the  road, 
and  the  party — every  one  of  whom,  I  believe, 
had  seen  service  in  France — was  not  likely  to 
mistake  the  familiar  '  ping.'  As  the  range 
varied  from  about  250  to  1,500  yards,  I  can  only 
conclude  that  bad  shooting  was  the  reason  for  the 
party  sustaining  no  casualties. 


lEELAND    AND    AMERICA.  377 

**  (2)  After  the  *  Dublin  Castle  circus  ' 
opened  fire^  'probably  half  a  dozen  shots  were 
fired  in  return,  but  not  from  either  the  creamery 
or  the  manager's  house. — The  naive  manner  in 
which  the  Commission  contradict  the  previous 
sentence  needs  no  comment.  The  estimate  of  the 
number  of  shots  returned  is  reminiscent  of  the 
rural  residents'  idea  of  distances.  They  were 
fired  from  the  far  side  of  a  field  adjoining  the 
creamery,  and  from  the  direction  of  three  or  four 
farms  behind  the  manager's  house,  in  which  lay 
a  wounded  man.  I  have  not  seen  it  suggested 
that  any  shots  came  from  the  creamery.  The  ten 
or  twelve  men  whom  we  saw  running  when  we 
turned  the  corner  were  going  from  the  direction 
of  the  creamery. 

**  (3)  The  Commission  do  not  a^ree  that 
there  were  about  70  armed  men  near  the  creamery. 
Seven  men  were  captured,  including  a  doctor  and 
his  servant,  and  there  has  been  no  further  state- 
Tnent  as  to  the  discovery  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion.— I  have  it  on  the  authority  of  one  who  was 
among  the  company  at  the  creamery  shortly 
before  our  arrival,  that  six  men  armed  with  rifles 
were  standing  outside  the  manager's  house,  dis- 
cussing which  posts  they  were  to  take  up.  The 
members  of  the  party  which  I  accompanied  re- 
ported that  in  the  lanes,  hedges,  and  fields  beyond 
the  field  to  which  I  have  referred,  they  encoun- 
tered three  parties,  each  of  fifteen  or  more  men, 
and  there  were  several  smaller  groups  and  in- 
dividual snipers.  The  officer  in  charge  of  the 
cadets  was  shot  at  from  a  distance  of  twenty-five 


378      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

yards  by  a  man  equipped  with  rifle  and  bando- 
lier. 

"  (4)  The  Commission  could  not  find  the 
trench  "part  of  the  ambush,  which  was  stated  still 
to  be  there. — As  we  drove  along  that  afternoon 
our  driver  drew  our  attention  to  a  trench,  partly 
filled  up,  which  crossed  the  road  about  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  creamery,  and  he 
slackened  speed  as  he  passed  over  it.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  after  the  heavy  rains  which  inter- 
vened the  Labour  Commission  were  quite  unable 
to  distinguish  the  trench  from  the  rest  of  what  is 
a  very  indifferent  road. 

"  (5)  No  one  ever  saw  any  dead  or  wounded 
men. — The  party  reported  that  four  men  had 
been  shot  at  very  short  range,  and  had  not  moved 
again.  One  man  was  found  with  blood  on  his 
hands,  and  another  with  blood  on  his  face,  and 
bloodstains  formed  a  track  through  one  of  the 
farmyards.  Our  party  were  hurriedly  recalled, 
and  were  obliged  to  leave  the  casualties.  On  the 
following  morning  there  was  no  trace  of  the 
latter — for  reasons  which  would  be  obvious  to 
most  people. 

"  (6)  There  was  no  evidence  of  the  arrival  of 
'reinforcements,'  and  the  retirement  of  the 
'police  was  not  a  retirement  in  the  face  of  superior 
forces,  but  merely  the  undisturbed  departure  of 
the  '  Dublin  Castle  circus  '  with  the  prisoners 
who  had  been  taken. — The  party  were  recalled 
from  their  pursuit  of  the  attackers  simply  on  the 
ground  that  further  up  the  road,  about  250  yards 
away,  where  the  road  turned  sharply  to  the  right 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  379 

and  became  hidden  behind  a  wood,  the  movements 
of  several  men  who  kept  dodging  behind  the  walls 
suggested  the  possibility  of  an  attack  from  that 
direction.  A  motorist  coming  from  that  direc- 
tion said  there  were  '  not  more  than  a  dozen 
men  there,  and  previously  I  had  seen  five  men 
running  across  some  fields  at  the  opposite  side  of 
the  road.  The  retirement  was  disturbed  only  by 
a  renewed  outburst  of  fire  from  the  hillside,  where 
twenty  or  thirty  men  could  be  seen. 

"  (7)  There  was  not  a  shred  of  evidence  that 
from  the  homesteads  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
creamery  heavy  fire  was  directed  upon  the  police. 
— In  the  later  stages  of  the  fight,  and  when  the 
police  party  retired,  a  considerable  volume  of  fire 
came  from  that  direction. 

'  *  The  Commission  lay  stress  upon  the  fact  that 
we  sustained  no  casualty.  As  I  have  already 
said,  poor  shooting  could  be  the  only  reason,  and 
that  was  perhaps  partly  due  to  the  unexpected- 
ness of  the  counter  attack  by  the  police.  Most  of 
the  bullets  went  too  high,  and  the  vigorous  attack 
apparently  led  to  hurried  aiming.  If,  as  the 
Commission  assert,  in  their  humorous  way,  the 
party  was  not  fired  upon — or,  alternatively, 
probably  half-a-dozen  shots  were  fired  in  return 
— why  did  the  prisoners  who  were  taken  crawl 
on  their  iiands  and  knees  in  the  shelter  of  the 
roadside  bank  of  turf,  in  preference  to  walking 
comfortably  ? 

"  Altogether,  the  document  is  astounding,  and 
it  arouses  great  doubt  whether  the  Commission 


380      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

took  the  trouble  to  interview  any  one  but  those 
who  suffered  loss  by  the  subsequent  partial 
destruction  of  the  creamery,  or  the  burning  of 
those  hayricks  from  which  came  the  sharp  reports 
of  exploding  cartridges.  There  were  three  wit- 
nesses of  the  whole  affair  who  were  neither  resi- 
dents of  the  locality  nor  members  of  the  Cro\vn 
forces.  Presumably  the  Commission  were  aware 
of  our  existence.  For  myself,  I  received  no  invi- 
tation to  appear  before  the  Commission." 

The  Labour  Party's  Report,  and  the  criticism 
to  which  it  is  open,  are  typical  of  the  adverse 
comment  upon  the  policy  of  the  Government 
emanating  from  British  Opposition  sources. 
The  pity  of  it  all  is  that  such  comment,  based 
upon  demonstrably  false  premises  though  it  may 
be,  is  a  very  serious  hindrance  to  the  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  Irish  Question.  Those  who 
criticise  the  methods  of  the  Government  profess 
to  do  so  with  the  object  of  achieving  a  settlement 
in  Ireland.  Yet  by  their  very  criticism  they 
encourage  the  Irish  Republicans  to  believe  that  a 
section  of  the  British  people  sympathises  with 
them,  and  so  give  moral  support  to  the  outrage- 
gangs  in  their  resistance  to  the  forces  of  law  and 
order. 

It  may  seem  as  though  this  is  a  digression  from 
the  subject  of  the  relations  between  Ireland  and 
America,  but  in  fact  it  is  not.  The  Irish 
Republican  propagandists  have  chosen  America 
as  the  main  field  of  their  activities,  and  they 
take  good  care  that  every  statement  damaging  to 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  381 

British  rule .  receives  every  possible  form  of 
publicity.  In  England  we  know  what  value  to 
attach  to  such  statements,  but  in  America  the 
general  reader  has  usually  no  test  by  which  to 
determine  the  relative  value  of  conflicting 
accounts  which  reach  him  of  events  in  Ireland. 
And  it  is  only  by  means  of  such  a  demonstration 
as  has  just  been  given  that  the  value  of  criticism 
of  Government  methods  can  be  gauged. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  clear  the  air  as 
regards  the  claims  of  the  Republican  propa- 
gandists in  the  past,  let  us  endeavour  to  examine 
their  claims  for  the  present  day.  They  claim,  in 
effect,  that  the  Republicans  are  fighting  for  free- 
dom against  the  tyranny  of  British  rule.  But 
what  are  the  facts  ?  The  Government  of  Ireland 
Act*  gives  Ireland  a  more  complete  form  of  Home 
Rule  than  was  ever  contemplated  by  those  who 
urged  the  repeal  of  the  Union.  Ireland  is  offered 
control  of  all  essentials,  with  the  promise  implied 
that  if  she  seizes  the  opportunity  and  shows  her- 
self capable  of  self-government,  she  may  obtain 
by  constitutional  methods  the  essential  status  of 
a  Dominion.  The  cry  of  *  partition  '  is  a  foolish 
evasion  of  responsibility.  It  lies  in  the  hands 
of  the  Irish  to  abolish  partition  at  a  single  stroke, 
as  soon  as  the  Irish  people,  and  they  alone,  so 
desire. 

For  what  then  are  the  Republicans  continuing 
their  campaign  of  murder,  why  do  their 
apologists  endeavour  to  make  America  resound 

•  See  Appendix  A. 


382      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

with  their  cries  for  '  liberty  ? '  Liberty  they  are 
already  offered,  short  of  the  establishment  of 
their  ridiculous  republic,  which  only  an  insigni- 
ficant percentage  of  Irishmen  really  desires. 
It  is  hard  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the 
Republicans  believe  that  by  a  policy  of  terrorism 
and  disturbance  they  can  extort  from  the  British 
Government  better  terms  than  they  could  obtain 
by  constitutional  means.  This  is  a  most 
dangerous  attitude,  and  it  contains  a  menace  to 
the  whole  of  civilization.  It  is  a  form  of  black- 
mail which  it  is  the  duty  of  every  nation,  in  its 
own  interest,  to  discourage  to  the  full  extent  of 
its  powers.  It  is  based  upon  a  true  appreciation 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Irish  Question  is 
regarded  by  a  not  inconsiderable  section  of 
British  opinion.  The  Republican  propagandists 
love  to  display  the  British  race  as  a  ravening 
lion,  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  the  Irish  people. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  the  British  are  to  be 
symbolised  by  a  lion,  it  is  a  lion  wearied  by  a 
recent  fight,  and  desiring  rest  beyond  all  things, 
but  harassed  by  the  persistent  buzzing  of  an 
insignificant  gnat.  And  there  is  some  danger 
lest  the  lion  should  be  tempted  to  purchase  by 
concession  an  elusive  peace,  only  to  find  that  the 
gnat,  elated  by  success,  will  return  and  resume 
its  annoyances  with  redoubled  vigour. 

It  is  an  axiom  that  before  a  nation  can  achieve 
any  degree  of  liberty,  it  must  prove  its  capacity 
for  self-government,  and  must  then  evolve  the 
degree  of  liberty  it  desires  by  the  will  of  the 
majority  working  through  constitutional  chan- 


IRELAND    AND    AMERICA.  383 

nels.  A  short  exposition  of  the  Government  of 
Ireland  Act,  which  offers  Ireland  the  most  exten- 
sive opportunity  possible  for  setting  up  her  own 
Government  and  so  attaining  whatever  may 
prove  to  be  the  desires  of  the  majority  of  her 
people,  is  given  in  Appendix  A  of  this  volume. 

Finally  we  may  devote  a  few  lines  to  conjecture 
upon  the  position  of  America  were  an  Irish 
Republic  ever  to  become  a  reality.  Many  people 
consider  that  so  far  as  America  would  be  con- 
cerned the  establishment  of  a  Republic  would  be 
the  end  of  the  perpetual  Irish  disturbances  which 
are  a  never-ceasing  annoyance  to  that  country. 
The  Irish  Republicans  would  have  achieved  their 
end,  and  nothing  further  would  be  heard  of  their 
aspirations  for  liberty  or  of  their  strange  methods 
of  achieving  it.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that  this 
would  be  very  far  from  being  the  case.  The 
rulers  of  an  Irish  Republic  in  being  would  use 
every  endeavour  to  work  up  sympathy  for  their 
country  in  America,  and  would  leave  no  stone 
unturned  to  evoke  her  active  co-operation  in 
whatever  might  be  their  policy  at  the  moment. 
The  danger  to  America's  policy  of  non-interfer- 
ence in  European  affairs  has  only  to  be  indicated 
to  be  fully  realised. 

It'  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  that  those  in 
America  who  desire  to  see  Ireland  happy  and 
peaceful  should  do  their  utmost  to  persuade  the 
Irish  people  to  accept  the  present  Act  loyally  and 
cheerfully,  and  to  settle  their  internal  difficulties 
as  a  preliminary  to  a  declaration  of  a  United 
Ireland,  and  then,  by  demonstrating  to  the  world 


384      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

their  capacity  for  successful  government,  gradu- 
ally to  work  for  such  modifications  of  the  present 
measure  of  Home  Rule  as  will  prove  acceptable  to 
Ireland,  the  British  Empire,  and  the  World. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

A  brief  account  of  the  political  forces  at  work 
in  Ireland  is  an  essential  preliminary  to  any 
appreciation  of  the  policy  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment with  regard  to  Irish  affairs  during  1920. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  trace,  within  the  limits 
of  the  present  work,  the  historical  development 
of  Irish  political  thought;  the  subject  is  so  com- 
plex that  a  rough  sketch  would  not  only  be  inade- 
quate but  misleading.  We  must  therefore  con- 
tent ourselves  with  a  cursory  review  of  the  lead- 
ing influences  at  work  during  the  year  under 
examination. 

In  the  first  place,  a  word  of  warning  must  be 
spoken.  The  murder  campaign  of  the  Irish 
Republican  Army  has  so  shocked  the  imagination 
of  the  civilised  world  that  many  people  have 
come  to  regard  Ireland  as  being  populated  by  a 
race  of  assassins,  who  in  their  blind  fury  hesitate 
at  nothing  which  would  inflict  damage  upon  their 
distracted  country;  but  this  is  very  far  from 
the  truth.  The  great  majority  of  Irishmen, 
whatever  their  political  faith,  however  much  they 
may  differ  among  themselves  as  to  the  best  solu- 
tion of  the  problems  that  beset  their  native  land, 

z 


386      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

stand  appalled  at  the  terrible  deeds  of  the 
minority.  But  this  minority,  desperate,  con- 
scienceless, outlawed  by  its  own  free  will,  has 
seized  upon  the  weapons  of  anarchy,  and,  utterly 
ruthless  towards  all  who  oppose  it,  has  im- 
posed its  will  by  force  of  terror  upon  the  law- 
abiding  majority  of  its  countrymen.  Thus 
Ireland  drags  along  a  weary  existence  under  the 
sway  of  a  terrorism  she  abhors,  the  prey  of 
murder  and  suspicion,  and  a  reproach  to  civiliza- 
tion. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  deal  with  the  position 
of  Southern  Ireland  first,  and  here  again  it  is 
necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  term 
Southern  Ireland  includes  the  whole  country  out- 
side the  Six  Counties  of  Ulster.  Here  we  may 
consider  first  the  party  known  as  the  National- 
ists. This  party,  which  was  for  many  years  the 
most  powerful  Party  in  Ireland,  may  be  described 
as  having  for  its  chief  political  aim  the  repeal 
of  the  Union  as  it  had  stood  since  1801,  and  its 
substitution  by  some  form  of  Home  Rule.  The 
Nationalists  pursued  their  aims  by  constitutional 
methods,  and  their  schemes  did  not  contemplate 
the  divorce  of  their  country  from  the  Empire. 
This  *  Parliamentary  Party,'  as  it  came  to  be 
called,  lost  heavily  to  Sinn  Fein  in  the  General 
Election  of  1918,  for  a  variety  of  reasons  which 
have  already  been  touched  upon.*  It  seemed 
indeed  as  though  the  Party  had  become  utterly 
submerged,  until  during  the  latter  months  of 
1920  a  tendency  became  noticeable  of  a  desire  on 

•  Bee  Chapter  II. 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.   387 

the  part  of  the  inarticulate  sections  of  Irish 
opinion  to  incline  towards  Nationalist  rather 
than  Sinn  Fein  ideals.  The  country  was  grow- 
ing weary  of  anarchy  and  outrage,  it  saw  with 
secret  approval  a  Government  determined  to  rule 
with  firmness  and  refusing  to  be  shaken  in  its 
decisions  by  intimidation.  The  history  of  Ire- 
land teaches  that  firmness  on  the  part  of  its  rulers 
is  the  first  step  towards  winning  the  trust  of  the 
population.  The  attitude  of  the  Government 
towards  the  Government  of  Ireland  Bill  demon- 
strated that  Home  Rule  for  Ireland  was  one  of 
the  principal  items  of  its  policy.  Even  though 
Nationalist  opinion  might  consider  that  it  had 
not  achieved  its  aims  in  full,  yet  it  saw  that  by 
constitutional  means  alone  could  it  proceed 
towards  its  goal.  A  campaign  of  lawlessness  is 
the  most  convincing  demonstration  of  the  in- 
ability of  its  authors  to  govern  themselves. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  force  of  this  argu- 
ment is  being  realised  with  ever-increasing  clear- 
ness by  the  majority  of  the  Irish  people,  and  it 
is  inevitable  that  this  should  be  so.  Sinn  Fein 
proclaimed  war  upon  the  Government  with  the 
object  of  breaking  it  down,  and  so  of  exhibiting 
to  Ireland  and  the  world  at  large  its  own  power. 
The  Irish  people  have  witnessed  the  failure  of 
its  efforts,  the  resolution  of  the  authorities  to  en- 
force law,  order  and  good  government  in  the  teeth 
of  every  weapon  of  its  opponents.  The  slightest 
weakening,  the  very  least  concession  to  methods 
of  terrorism,  would  have  utterly  discredited  the 
Government  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country,  and 


388      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

would  have  thrown  the  whole  population  into  the 
arms  of  Sinn  Fein.  And  once  the  Sinn  Fein 
ideal  had  really  permeated  the  majority,  once  the 
vision  of  an  Irish  Republic  had  really  gripped 
the  hearts  of  the  people,  the  only  alternatives 
would  have  been  Civil  War  or  the  loss  of  Ireland 
to  the  Empire.  The  brightest  prospect  for  the 
future  lies  in  the  Nationalist  spirit. 

Opposed  to  the  Nationalists  are  the  Unionists, 
but  their  opposition  is  now  rather  theoretical 
than  practical.  The  Unionists  are  those  who 
believe  that  the  best  interests  of  the  country 
would  be  served  by  the  maintenance  of  the  Union. 
In  Southern  Ireland  they  are  numerically  weak, 
but  their  influence  is  greater  than  their  numbers 
would  indicate.  It  seems  unlikely  that  the 
Union  will  ever  be  restored  in  the  sense  of  1801, 
but  only  the  future  history  of  a  self-governing 
Ireland  can  determine  whether  or  not  the  prin- 
ciple of  self-determination  is  correct,  whether  or 
not  union  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  best 
serves  the  interests  of  the  latter  country. 

Sinn  Fein,  although  of  later  birth  than  either 
of  the  Parties  already  mentioned,  demands 
rather  fuller  consideration,  owing  to  the  influence 
it  has  exerted  throughout  the  troubled  years  since 
1916.  Professor  Henry,  in  his  book  The  Evolu- 
tion of  Sinn  Fein,  has  given  an  excellent  account 
of  the  history  and  development  of  the  movement. 
For  our  present  purpose  we  may  confine  ourselves 
to  quoting  his  words  which  define  its  policy  and 
aim. 

"  Sinn  Fein  is  an  expression  in  political  theory 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  389 

and  action  of  the  claim  of  Ireland  to  be  a  nation, 
with  all  the  political  consequences  which  such  a 
claim  involves.  It  differs  from  previous  national 
movements  principally  in  the  policy  which  it  out- 
lines for  the  attainment  of  its  ultimate  end,  the 
independence  of  Ireland;  though  it  should  be 
understood  that  nearly  every  point  in  the  Sinn 
Fein  political  programme  has  been  at  least  sug- 
gested by  some  previous  Irish  Nationalist 
thinker." 

This  is  borne  out  by  a  resolution  passed  at  the 
great  Sinn  Fein  Convention  which  was  held  at 
the  Mansion  House,  Dublin,  on  the  26th  and  27th 
of  October,  1917,  and  also  by  the  Sinn  Fein  Con- 
stitution*— a  pr^is  of  which  was  circulated  in 
1917  in  small  booklet  form,  printed  in  Irish  and 
English,  for  the  purpose  of  enrolling  members. 
It  is  as  follows  : — 

**  CuMANN  Sinn  Fein. 

**  CONSTITUTION. 

**  Whereas  the  people  of  Ireland  never  relin- 

*  A  pamphlet  issued  by  the  organization  which  sets  out  its 
scheme  of  formation  will  be  found  in  Appendix  D  of  this 
volume.  It  is  a  four-page  octavo,  printed  in  Dublin. 
This  pamphlet  bears  tne  printer's  name,  '  P.  Mahon, 
Printer,  Yamhall  Street,  Dublin.'  Mr.  Patrick  Mahon  was 
subsequently  arrested  (6th  November,  1920,)  and  sentenced  by 
a  C!ourt  Martial  on  13th  January,  1921,  to  five  years  penal 
servitude  for  the  following  offences  : 

"  (1)  Having  on  6th  November,  1920,  without  lawful  authority 
two  books  relating  to  an  unlawful  association,  viz.,  Cumann  na 
m'Ban; 

"  (2)  Having  a  document  relating  to  an  vmlawful  association, 
viz..  Bail  Eireann; 

"  (3)  Having  two  metal  discs  for  printing  documents  relating 
to  the  Irish  Volunteers; 

"  (4)  Having  documents  consisting  of  18  proof-sheets  relating 
to  drill." 


390       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

quished  the  claim  to  separate  Nationhood,  and 

"  Whereas  the  Provisional  Government  of  the 
Irish  Republic,  Easter,  1916,  in  the  name  of  the 
Irish  people  and  continuing  the  fight  made  by 
previous  generations,  re-asserted  the  inalienable 
right  of  the  Irish  Nation  to  Sovereign  Indepen- 
dence, and  re-affirmed  the  determination  of  the 
Irish  people  to  achieve  it :  and 

"  Whereas  the  Proclamation  of  an  Irish 
Republic,  Easter,  1916,  and  the  supreme  courage 
and  glorious  sacrifices  of  the  men  who  gave  their 
lives  to  maintain  it,  have  united  the  people  of 
Ireland  under  the  flag  of  the  Irish  Republic,  be 
it  Resolved,  that  we,  the  delegated  representa- 
tives of  the  Irish  people,  in  (Convention 
assembled,  hereby  declare  the  following  to  be  the 
Constitution  of  Sinn  Fein  : — 

"1.  The  name  of  this  organisation  shall  be 

Sinn  Fein. 
"  2.  Sinn  Fein  aims  at  securing  the  Inter- 
national recognition  of  Ireland  as  an  In- 
dependent Irish  Republic. 
' '  Having  achieved  that  status  the  Irish  people 
may  by  referendum  freely  choose  their  own  form 
of  Government. 

"3.  This  object  shall  be  attained  through  the 
Sinn  Fein  Organisation  which  shall,  in 
the     name     of     the     Sovereign     Irish 
people  : — 
"  (a.)  Deny  the  right  and  oppose  the  will  of 
the   British   Parliament   and    British 
Crown  or  any  other  foreign  govern- 
ment to  legislate  for  Ireland  : 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  391 

**  (b.)  Make  use  of  any  and  every  means  avail- 
able to  render  impotent  the  power  of 
England  to  hold  Ireland  in  subjection 
by  military  force  or  otherwise. 

*'  4.  Whereas  no  law  made  without  the 
authority  and  consent  of  the  Irish  people 
is  or  ever  can  be  binding  on  their  con- 
science. 

' '  Therefore  in  accordance  with  the  Resolution 
of  Sinn  Fein  adopted  in  Convention,  1906,  a 
Constituent  Assembly  shall  be  convoked,  com- 
prising persons  chosen  by  the  Irish  Constituencies 
as  the  supreme  National  authority  to  speak  and 
act  in  the  name  of  the  Irish  people  and  to  devise 
and  formulate  measures  for  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  people  of  Ireland." 

This  Convention  of  October,  1917,  was  the 
climax  towards  which  the  Sinn  Fein  activities 
throughout  Southern  Ireland  had  been  leading. 
De  Valera  was  appointed  President  and  Arthur 
Griffith  Vice-President;  two  treasurers  were 
named,  and  Arthur  Stack  and  Barrel  Figgis 
became  honorary  secretaries  of  an  organized 
executive.  Professor  Eoin  McNeill  and  twenty- 
three  others  were  appointed  an  executive  com- 
mittee. After  the  election  De  Valera  addressed 
the  Convention  and  stated  :  ' '  The  constitution  of 
the  new  movement  which  you  have  adopted  says 
this  organization  of  Sinn  Fein  aims  at  securing 
the  International  recognition  of  Irelcmd  as  an 
Independent  Irish  Republic." 

A  resolution  was  passed  "  That  all  national 


392      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

activities  be   sub-divided    into   clearly    defined 
departments,  as  follows  : — 

**  1.  Department  of  Military  Organization; 

"  2.  Department  of  Political  Organization; 

'*  3.  Department  of  Education  and  Propa- 
ganda ; 

**  4.  Department  of  Foreign  Relations; 

**  5.  Department  of  Finance  " ; 
and  six  other  departments  were  specified  dealing 
with  other  matters. 

It  is,  in  the  interests  of  lucidity,  somewhat 
unfortunate  that  the  term  '  Sinn  Fein  '  has  been 
used  to  cover  all  forms  of  Republican  enterprise. 
Strictly  speaking,  Sinn  Fein  {Ourselves  Alone) 
is  a  political  party,  electing  members  to  represent 
it  in  a  National  Parliament  or  Dail  Eireann. 
The  various  other  Republican  organisations  are 
nominally  bound  to  it,  in  the  sense  that  their 
members  are  also  members  of  Sinn  Fein.  How 
far  mutual  control  could  be  exercised,  how  far, 
for  instance,  Dail  Eireann  could  influence  the 
Irish  Republican  Army,  is  problematical.  Forces 
of  disorder  are  very  apt  to  become  impatient  of 
the  control  even  of  their  own  sympathisers.  And 
behind  the  whole  network  of  associations  and 
organisations  stands  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood,  as  it  stood  behind  the  Fenians  and 
the  Invincibles,  working  darkly  for  its  own  ends. 
If  we  require  a  parallel  to  the  influence  exerted 
by  the  Brotherhood,  we  may  trace  something 
similar  in  the  influence  exerted  by  the  Parte 
Guelfa  upon  the  government  of  the  Florentine 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  393 

Republic  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies. 

The  originators  of  Sinn  Fein  would,  no  doubt, 
have  welcomed  an  appeal  to  force  to  secure  their 
aims,  had  such  an  action  showed  any  prospect  of 
success.  Throughout  the  War  they  brought  every 
possible  influence  to  bear  to  secure  England's 
defeat,  hoping  that  in  a  crushed  and  beaten 
England  they  would  find  an  enemy  capable  of 
being  finally  overthrown.  But  it  was  no  part  of 
their  policy  to  engage  in  such  hopeless  enterprises 
as  the  Easter  Week  rising,  and  it  is  hardly 
credible  that  they  can  have  believed  that  the 
murderous  operations  of  the  I.R.A.  could  ever 
achieve  Irish  independenc-e.  They  failed  to  keep 
their  more  lawless  elements  in  check,  and  the 
latter,  emboldened  by  the  immunity  which  fol- 
lowed their  earlier  outrages,  gradually  loosened 
the  bonds  of  discipline  until  they  became  a  law 
unto  themselves. 

But  this  circumstance  does  not  absolve  Sinn 
Fein  from  blame.  Even  though  the  murder- 
gangs  were  beyond  their  direct  control,  they 
extended  a  tacit  approval  to  their  outrages. 
Either  through  intimidation,  or  through  some 
hopeless  feeling  that  somehow  the  Government 
might  be  terrorised  into  granting  independence 
as  the  price  of  peace,  Sinn  Fein  has  never,  collec- 
tively or  individually,  expressed  its  disapproval 
of  crime.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  done  every- 
thing to  encourage  it.  There  is  evidence  that 
funds  collected  on  behalf  of  Sinn  Fein  have  been 
applied  to  the  purposes  of  the  Irish  Republican 


394      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Army ;  indeed  the  posts  of  '  Minister  of  Finance  ' 
of  Dail  Eireann  and  '  Adjutant- General  '  of  the 
I.R.A.  are  held  by  one  and  the  same  man, 
Michael  Collins.  De  Valera,  the  '  President  of 
the  Irish  Republic,'  proclaimed  from  the  safety 
of  America  his  approval  of  the  Dublin  massacre 
of  21st  November,  1920.  Finally,  individual 
members  of  the  Sinn  Fein  executive  have  not 
hesitated  to  identify  themselves  with  every 
variety  of  crime  and  outrage. 

In  these  circumstances,  although  strictly 
speaking  Sinn  Fein  and  the  murder-gangs  are 
not  identical,  there  is  no  possibility  of  exonerat- 
ing the  former  from  responsibility  for  the  crimes 
of  the  latter.  The  instinct  of  British  soldiers 
and  police,  rarely  at  fault  in  such  matters,  has 
been  to  dub  all  those  with  whom  they  come  in 
conflict  as  '  Shinners, '  rightly  refusing  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  criminals  themselves  and 
their  instigators.  And,  until  Sinn  Fein  dis- 
associates itself  from  such  horrors  as  the  Dublin 
massacres  and  the  Macroom  ambush,  the  charge 
of  complicity  must  go  against  it  by  default. 

The  folly  of  Sinn  Fein  in  this  respect  needs 
little  demonstration.  It  is  at  least  conceivable 
that  had  Sinn  Fein  worked  for  independence  by 
constitutional  means,  had  their  elected  members 
chosen  to  take  their  seats  at  Westminster  instead 
of  in  some  obscure  back  room  in  Dublin,  they 
might  in  course  of  time  have  achieved  their  aim. 
Sinn  Fein  has  been  a  great  power  in  Ireland,  it 
might  have  controlled  the  country  far  more 
effectively  than  any  form  of  British  rule  has  ever 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  395 

succeeded  in  doing,  and  thus  it  might  have 
exhibited  to  the  world  the  spectacle  of  Ireland 
contented  under  the  direction  of  her  elected  re- 
presentatives. What  better  argument  for  com- 
plete independence  could  be  imagined  ?  Sinn 
Fein  could  have  argued  that  if  even  within  the 
limits  of  British  rule  it  had  pacified  the 
country,  how  much  more  could  it  not  effect  if 
only  Ireland  were  entirely  surrendered  to  it? 
By  a  policy  of  pacification  and  order  Sinn  Fein 
could  have  secured  a  solid  body  of  sympathetic 
opinion,  both  in  England  and  abroad. 

But  Sinn  Fein  decided  otherwise,  ignoring  the 
lesson  of  history  which  teaches  that  every  tur- 
bulent State  has  by  its  very  turbulence  demanded 
the  control  of  some  stronger  Power.  Instead  of 
peace,  Sinn  Fein  has  brought  the  sword,  and  by 
the  blood-thirstiness  of  its  methods  has  alienated 
every  civilised  opinion.  In  place  of  government, 
Sinn  Fein  has  stirred  up  Ireland  into  a  land  of 
seething  discontent,  where  men  walk  in  peril  of 
their  lives  and  where  prosperity  is  the  prey  of 
lawlessness.  And  having  accomplished  this,  the 
world  is  asked  to  believe  that  the  very  hands 
which  have  been  most  active  in  creating  the  tur- 
moil are  those  most  suited  to  holding  the  reins 
of  government.  Nor  is  this  all.  Sinn  Fein  has 
believed  that  the  British  Empire  could  be 
terrorised  into  granting  its  demands.  With 
almost  inconceivable  ignorance  of  British 
psychology  it  has  countenanced  a  campaign  of 
murder,  hoping  that  by  this  means  it  can  destroy 
the  morale  of  the  Forces  of  the  Crown.     Indi- 


396       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

vidual  members  of  these  Forces  it  has  indeed 
succeeded  in  destroying,  but  the  manhood  of 
Britain  flocks  to  fill  their  places,  undismayed  by 
the  fate  which  has  overtaken  its  comrades. 

Nor  is  the  failure  of  its  policy  the  sole  price 
which  Sinn  Fein  has  had  to  pay  for  murder. 
The  conscience  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  world, 
which  might  have  sympathised  with  the  aspira- 
tions of  Sinn  Fein  had  this  organisation  known 
how  to  address  itself  to  its  hearers,  is  horrified 
by  the  appalling  details  of  massacre  and  outrage. 
Sinn  Fein  has  done  its  utmost  to  shock  those  who 
at  one  time  might  have  upheld  it.  And,  as  a 
crowning  act  of  folly,  it  has  threatened  the  ex- 
tension of  dastardly  deeds  to  England  itself,  and 
has  backed  these  threats  by  acts  such  as  those 
which  led  to  widespread  destruction  in  Liverpool 
on  the  night  of  27th  November,  1920,  thus  finally 
embittering  British  opinion  and  deferring  any 
possibility  of  the  realisation  of  its  aims  to  a 
future  so  remote  as  to  be  beyond  the  range  of 
human  vision.  By  its  own  acts  Sinn  Fein  has 
shown  the  world  the  folly  of  its  dream. 

In  Northern  Ireland,  that  is  to  say  the  Six 
Counties  of  Ulster,  the  arrangement  of  the  politi- 
cal parties  is  entirely  different.  Conditions  in 
Ulster  have  already  been  dealt  with  in  another 
Chapter,  and  there  is  no  need  to  refer  to  them 
again  here,  except  in  so  far  as  they  affect  the 
question  of  partition.  This  is  a  matter  upon 
which  considerable  difference  of  opinion  exists. 
The  claim  of  Ireland  to  be  a  nation,  one  and  in- 
divisible, is  insisted  upon  by  Nationalists  and 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  397 

by  Sinn  Fein.  How  far  this  claim  is  borne  out 
by  history  is  a  question  which  need  not  concern  us 
here.  It  is  sufficient  to  suggest  that  the  rival 
and  conflicting  claims  of  an  industrial  popula- 
tion such  as  that  of  the  Six  Counties  and  of  an 
agricultural  population  such  as  that  of  the  rest 
of  Ireland  may  be  of  greater  importance  in  their 
bearing  on  the  matter  of  partition  than  consider- 
ations of  national  unity,  based  largely  upon 
sentimental  grounds.  If  the  two  can  eventually 
be  reconciled,  well  and  good.  Ulster  has  decided 
that,  if  the  Union  must  be  sacrificed,  it  is  better 
for  her  interests  that  she  should  govern  herself 
than  be  governed  by  a  Parliament  of  all  Ireland. 
If  this  be  her  opinion,  and  if  equal  facilities  be 
given  to  the  rest  of  Ireland  for  similar  self- 
government,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  objection 
can  reasonably  be  raised  to  such  partition  as  is 
provided  for  in  the  present  Act,  in  which  all 
these  conditions  are  complied  with. 

Further,  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  not 
England  who  is  imposing  partition,  but  a  section 
of  the  people  of  Ireland  themselves.  It  may 
almost  be  said  that  the  Act  treats  partition  as  a 
necessary  and  temporary  evil.  It  is  expressly 
provided  that  almost  the  first  actions  of  the  newly 
constituted  parliaments  of  Northern  and 
Southern  Ireland  may  be  to  break  down  the  wall 
of  partition  by  proclaiming  the  union  of  Ireland 
and  setting  up  a  single  Parliament  for  the  whole 
country.  The  matter  lies  wholly  in  the  hands  of 
the  Irish  people.  Power  is  expressly  given  them 
to  settle  the  question  for  themselves,  secure  from 
any  outside  interference  whatever. 


398       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

In  pursuance  of  its  policy  of  securing  an  Irish 
Republic,  Sinn  Fein  has  used  every  effort  to  in- 
fluence feeling  in  Ulster  against  partition.  As 
an  instance  of  this  propaganda  a  periodical 
known  as  The  Red  Hand  Magazine  may  be  cited. 
This  periodical  is  intended  for  circulation  in 
Ulster,  as  its  name  implies,  and  contains  matter 
calculated  to  appeal  to  that  somewhat  nebulous 
conception,  '  the  Soul  of  Ireland, '  and  to  demon- 
strate to  the  hard-headed  Ulsterman  that  the 
anarchy  of  the  South  is  far  preferable  to  the 
peacefulness  of  his  own  counties.  For  instance, 
the  first  number,  which  is  dated  September,  1920, 
contains  a  paragraph  headed  Our  Policy. 

*'  We  are  calling  upon  minds  of  the  present 
in  Ireland,  and  we  are  conjuring  up  the  great 
spirits  of  the  past  to  present  before  our  readers 
a  clean-cut  conception  of  the  first  principles  of 
every  Irishman's  relationship  to  his  fellow- 
Irishman,  and  thence  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

*'  On  the  bedrock  of  his  own  traditions  alone 
may  an  Irishman  stand  no  slave ;  there  alone  can 
he  be  armoured  and  girded  by  the  genius  of  his 
Motherland,  and  from  there  alone  can  he  set 
forth  powerful  to  do  good  and  resist  evil. 

"  We  need  not  recall  long  centuries  of  blood 
and  tears  to  impress  upon  our  readers  that  if  we 
be  Irish  we  cannot  be  British.  To  us,  in  so  far 
as  it  is  Irish,  everything  is  clean  and  sweet  and 
good,  and  in  so  far  as  it  is  English  every  Irish 
growth  is  blighted.  We  therefore  accept  and 
endorse  in  1920  the  policy  of  Wolfe  Tone  in 
1798  :— 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  399 

'  To  break  the  connections  with  England, 
the  never-failing  source  of  all  our  political 
evils,  and  to  assert  the  independence  of  my 
country,  these  were  my  objects.     To  unite 
the  whole  people  of  Ireland,  to  abolish  the 
memory  of  all  dissentions  and  to  substitute 
the  common  name  of  Irishman  in  place  of 
the  denominations  of  Protestant,  Catholic, 
and  Dissenter,  these  were  my  means. ' 
"  In    fine,    we    hope    to    retune    the    dumb 
string  of   '98   in  the  sub-oonsciousness  of  the 
Ulsterman  till  it  vibrates,  as  it  vibrated  in  our 
forefathers  a  century  ago,   through  the  whole 
Irishman." 

The  meaning  to  be  drawn  from  this  expression 
of  policy,  not  over  lucid  though  it  be,  is 
sufficiently  obvious.  Recruitment  in  Ulster,  the 
transformation  of  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  land 
into  a  terrorised  desert,  is  one  of  the  most 
cherished  desires  of  Sinn  Fein. 

Enough  has  now  been  said  to  convey  some  idea 
of  the  circumstances  with  which  the  authorities 
were  called  upon  to  deal.  We  are  now  in  a 
position  to  examine  the  policy  of  the  Government 
in  the  face  of  these  circuLmstances. 

The  first  and  most  obvious  necessity  imposed 
upon  the  rulers  of  Ireland  was  to  terminate  the 
campaign  of  outrage  and  to  restore  law  and  order 
to  the  position  they  should  hold  in  any  civilised 
country.  This  is  certainly  the  first  duty  of 
government,  and  everything  else  must  be 
subordinated  to  it.  But,  once  this  duty  has  been 
performed,   there  is  the  urgent  need  of  giving 


400      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Ireland  that  form  of  rule  which  is  desired  by 
the  majority  of  her  inhabitants,  while  at  the  same 
time  safeguarding  the  principles  of  the  minority. 
Thus  it  may  be  said  that  the  policy  of  the 
Government  divides  itself  under  two  heads,  but 
that  each  section  is  being  proceeded  with 
simultaneously.  Throughout  the  distractions  of 
the  year  the  Government  held  unwaveringly  to 
this  policy,  and  its  aims  have  never  for  a  moment 
been  abandoned. 

In  examining  the  means  by  which  the  desired 
ends  have  been  approached,  we  may  deal  first 
with  the  restoration  of  law  and  order  and  the 
suppression  of  murder  and  outrage.  Treating 
this  as  a  problem  by  itself,  we  may  consider  the 
various  methods  by  which  the  solution  of  the 
problem  might  possibly  have  been  achieved,  and 
the  disadvantages  attaching  to  each  of  them. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  cheapest  and 
easiest  course  would  have  been  acknowledgment 
of  the  claims  of  Sinn  Fein,  and  the  recognition 
of  the  Irish  Republic.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
certain  that  this  step  would  have  betrayed 
Ireland  into  the  hands  of  her  enemies  (not  to 
mention  her  lawless  minority),  and  would  have 
produced  a  state  of  affairs  far  worse  than  that 
alre^^dy  existing.  Sinn  Fein  has  shown  no  such 
symptoms  of  its  aptitude  for  rule  as  would 
justify  the  surrender  to  it  of  an  integral  unit  of 
the  British  Empire.  It  the  second  place,  it  has 
never  been  part  of  the  policy  of  a  civilised  people 
to  abandon  a  portion  of  its  territory  because  a 
band  of  criminals  give  themselves  over  to  an 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  401 

orgy  of  assassination  and  bloodshed.  And 
finally  there  would  be  the  grave  danger  of  the 
infant  Republic  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemies  of  the  State — and  of  civilisation. 

Another  suggestion,  and  one  which  has 
received  wide  support,  is  that  the  Forces  of  the 
Crown  should  be  withdrawn  from  the  country, 
either  to  England  or  to  the  shores  of  Ireland, 
apparently  in  the  hope  that  the  objectives  of  the 
murderers  having  been  removed,  the  operations 
of  the  latter  would  perforce  cease.  Presumably 
the  advocates  of  this  policy  would  insist,  if  they 
were  suffering  from  the  onslaughts  of  some 
organism  which  attacked  the  brain,  that  the 
brain  should  be  removed  in  order  to  defeat 
the  organism.  For  no  less  vital  than  is  the 
brain  to  the  human  body  are  the  Forces  of  the 
Crown  to  Ireland.  Upon  their  removal  there 
would  be  no  restriction  upon  crime.  The  armed 
minority  of  the  population  would  seize  upon  the 
opportunity  to  wage  open  warfare  upon  the 
peaceful  majority  which  disagreed  with  them. 
Upon  the  ashes  of  a  devastated  country  would 
rise  a  monstrous  domination  of  murderers, 
upholding  their  authority  at  the  point  of  the 
revolver.  For  it  is  not  only  the  Forces  of  the 
Crown  upon  whom  the  Republicans  have 
declared  war.  Every  loyal  citizen  is  menaced  by 
them,  as  their  own  proclamations  are  never  tired 
of  asserting.  Two  of  these,  issued  during  the 
month  of  November,  1920,  may  be  quoted  in  this 
connection.    The  first  of  them  is  as  follows  : — 


AA 


402      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

**  Whereas  the  Irish  Republic  has  declared 
war  on  England,  we  hereby  give  notice  that 
anyone  guilty  of  treasonable  conspiracy  will  be 
shot  without  warning  as  a  traitor  to  the  Republic. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  aforesaid  Republic  : 

(name  in  Irish  script) 

GOD     SAVE    IRELAND." 

God  save  Ireland  indeed,  and  from  the  hands 
of  those  who  penned  so  dastardly  a  threat. 
The  second  proclamation  is  as  follows  : — 

"  HEADQUARTERS     DUBLIN. 

Whereas  the  Irish  Republic  has  declared  war 
on  England,  we  hereby  warn  all  enemies  of  Sinn 
Fein  who  in  any  way  assist  the  enemy  or  obstruct 
the  soldiers  of  the  said  Republic  that  they  are 
traitors  to  their  country  and  therefore  liable  to  be 

SHOT     WITHOUT     WARNING. 

By  order  of  the 

IRISH   republic. 

TO    ALL    WHOM     IT    MAY    CONCERN. 

LONG     LIVE     THE     REPUBLIC  !   ' ' 

These  proclamations  were  circulated  by  the 
Irish  Republican  Army  as  a  threat  to  loyalists  in 
Ireland.  Surely  they  alone  are  a  sufficient 
answer  to  those  who  advocate  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Forces  of  the  Crown. 

There  is  yet  another  objection  to  this  most 
dangerous  suggestion.  Throughout  Irish  history 
every    concession    to    outrage,     every    act    of 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  403 

conciliation  towards  the  rebels,  has  always  been 
hailed  by  the  latter  as  a  victory  and  an 
encouragement  to  further  excesses.  The  with- 
drawal of  the  Forces  of  the  Crown  would  mean 
the  abandonment  of  Ireland  to  the  Republicans, 
and  most  probably  the  extension  of  the  outrage 
campaign  to  Great  Britain.  Further,  it  would 
mean  that  the  murders  which  have  already  been 
perpetrated  would  remain  unpunished,  and  the 
criminals  who  have  committed  them  would 
openly  be  acclaimed  as  heroes.  Neither  the 
cause  of  justice  or  of  peace  would  be  served  by 
this  expedient. 

A  third  suggestion  has  been  that  Ireland 
either  as  a  whole  or  in  two  parts,  Northern  and 
Southern,  should  be  granted  what  has  been 
termed  Dominion  Home  Rule.  This  has  proved  a 
very  loose  expression;  it  has  been  used  to  cover 
widely  differing  policies,  ranging  from  self- 
government  as  enjoyed  for  instance  by  Canada, 
through  the  federal  powers  exercised  by  the 
component  States  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  to  the  proposals  embodied  in  the  present 
Government  of  Ireland  Act.  But,  as  a  matter  of 
fact.  Dominion  Home  Rule  must  mean  a  very 
complete  measure  of  self-government,  and  must 
include  the  rights  of  control  of  harbours, 
customs,  excise  and  taxation,  together  with  the 
power  to  maintain  naval  and  military  forces. 

It  is  upon  this  last  point  that  Do>minion  Home 
Rule,  as  applied  to  Ireland,  fails  to  meet  the 
situation.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  naval 
lessons  of  the  late  war,  it  has  at  all  events  been 


404      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

proved  that  a  fleet  of  submarines,  based  upon  a 
defended  harbour,  can  do  incalculable  damage 
before  it  can  be  exterminated.  The  methods 
of  the  Republicans  have  been  sufficiently- 
demonstrated  to  prove  the  impossibility  of 
placing  such  a  potential  weapon  in  Irish  hands. 
The  coasts  of  Ireland  are  far  too  favourable,  both 
strategically  and  tactically,  for  submarine 
operations  against  British  shipping,  to  permit 
of  their  use  by  any  other  Navy  than  the  British. 

The  argument  against  permitting  Ireland  to 
control  her  own  army  is  very  similar.  Although 
it  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  the  country  could  or 
would  support  an  Army  of  such  a  size  as  to  be  a 
standing  menace  to  the  British  Empire,  it  is 
impossible  to  avoid  realisation  of  the  fact  that 
the  Irish  Republican  Army  is  already  in 
existence,  and  would  almost  certainly  develop 
into  the  regular  armed  force  of  the  Irish  nation. 
The  deeds  of  this  Army  have  already  been 
sufficiently  demonstrated.  A  legalised  armed 
force  with  such  traditions  would  hardly  be 
conducive  to  peace. 

A  fourth  suggestion  for  the  attainment  of 
peace  in  Ireland  is  that  Martial  Law  should  be 
proclaimed  throughout  the  country,  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  extermination  of  the  murder-gangs. 
This  is  a  suggestion  meriting  serious  considera- 
tion. The  chief  value  of  a  declaration  of  Martial 
Law  in  a  region  sufiering  under  conditions  such 
as  those  obtaining  in  Ireland  lies  in  the 
opportunities  it  offers  for  rapid  measures  to  be 
taken  by  the  man  on  the  spot.    It  only  indirectly 


THE  POLICY  or  THE  GOVERNMENT.  405 

assists  in  the  capture  of  malefactors,  how- 
ever, and  in  any  case  is  probably  more 
valuable  from  its  moral  than  from  its  direct 
effects.  But  the  danger  of  a  precipitate 
declaration  of  Martial  Law  lies  in  the  grave 
probability  of  a  resulting  guerilla  campaign. 
Had  Martial  Law  been  proclaimed  too  early, 
the  result  might  well  have  been  that  the 
members  of  the  Irish  Republican  Army  would 
have  mobilised  to  resist  it,  and  that  irregular 
warfare  would  have  taken  place  between  them 
and  the  Forces  of  the  Crown,  with  all  the 
advantages,  strategical  and  tactical,  in  favour 
of  the  insurgents.  They  would  have  been 
operating  in  their  own  country,  with  the  factors 
of  terrain,  initiative  and  concealment  on  their 
side,  and,  although  the  ultimate  issue  of  the 
struggle  could  never  have  been  in  doubt,  yet  it 
might  have  been  so  prolonged  that  at  its  close 
Ireland  would  have  been  is  such  a  state  of 
prostration  that  she  could  not  have  recovered 
for  years.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  Government  to  stamp  out  murder 
and  the  murder-gangs  with  the  least  possible 
disturbance  of  the  property  of  the  peace-loving 
majority. 

There  comes  a  time,  however,  when  a  sufficient 
mastery  has  been  obtained  over  the  lawless  gangs 
and  when  the  imposition  of  Martial  Law  may 
be  the  most  rapid  method  of  bringing  them  to 
their  knees.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  it 
became  obvious  that  Martial  Law  would  afford 
the   most   satisfactory   means   of   securing   the 


406       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

disarmament  of  the  rebels  in  the  southern 
counties  of  Ireland.  The  first  step  was  taken 
on  the  10th  December,  when  the  following 
Proclamation  was  issued  : — 

PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas  certain  evilly  disposed  persons  and 
associations  with  the  intent  to  subvert  the 
supremacy  of  the  Crown  in  Ireland  have 
committed  divers  acts  of  violence  whereby  many 
persons,  including  members  of  the  Forces  of  the 
Crown  and  other  servants  of  His  Majesty,  have 
been  murdered  and  many  others  have  suffered 
grievous  injuries  and  much  destruction  of 
property  has  been  caused  and  whereas  in  certain 
parts  of  Ireland  disaffection  and  unrest  have  been 
especially  prevalent  and  repeated  murderous 
attacks  have  been  made  upon  members  of  His 
Majesty's  Forces  culminating  in  the  ambush, 
massacre  and  mutilation  with  axes,  of  sixteen 
Cadets  of  the  Auxiliary  Division,  all  of  whom 
had  served  in  the  late  War,  by  a  large  body  of 
men  who  were  wearing  trench  helmets  and  were 
disguised  in  the  uniform  of  British  soldiers  and 
who  are  still  at  large  : 

NOW     I,      JOHN     DENTON     PINKSTONE     VISCOUNT 

FRENCH  Lord  Lieutenant  General  and  General 
Gt)vernor  of  Ireland,  do  hereby  proclaim  by 
virtue  of  all  the  powers  me  thereunto  enabling 
that  the  following  counties  namely  : — 

The  County  of  Cork  (East  Riding  and  West 
Riding), 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  407 

The  County  of  the  City  of  Cork, 

The  County  of  Tipperary  (North  Riding), 

The  County  of  Tipperary  (South  Riding), 

The  County  of  Kerry, 

The  County  of  Limerick, 

The  County  of  the  City  of  Limerick, 

are  and  until  further  order  shall  continue  to  be 

under  and  subject  to 

MARTIAL   LAW, 

AND  I  do  hereby  call  on  all  loyal  and  well- 
affected  subjects  of  the  Crown  to  aid  in  uphold- 
ing and  maintaining  the  peace  of  this  Realm  and 
the  supremacy  and  authority  of  the  Crown  and 
to  obey  and  conform  to  all  orders  and  regulations 
of  the  Military  Authority  issued  by  virtue  of  this 
Proclamation. 

Given  at  His  Majesty's  Castle  of  Dublin 
this  tenth  day  of  December,  1920. 

FRENCH. 

GOD   SAVE    THE    KING. 

This  Proclamation  was  followed  by  the  first 
Proclamation  of  the  Military  Authority  on  the 
14th  December.  The  latter  was  posted  broadcast 
in  the  proclaimed  area,  and  was  as  follows  : — 

PROCLAMATION    No    1. 

BY 
G.O.C     IN    C.     THE    FORCES     IN    IRELAND. 

MARTIAL  LAW  has  been  declared  in  the 


408      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

counties  of  Cork,  Tipperary,  Kerry  and 
Limerick. 

IRISHMEN ! 

Understand  this : 

Great  Britain  has  no  quarrel  with  Irishmen; 
her  sole  quarrel  is  with  crime,  outrage  and 
disorder;  her  sole  object  in  declaring  martial 
LAW  is  to  restore  peace  to  a  distracted  and 
unhappy  country ;  her  sole  enemies  are  those  who 
have  coimtenanced,  inspired,  and  participated  in 
rebellion,  murder  and  outrage. 

It  is  to  put  an  end,  once  and  for  all,  to  this 
campaign  of  outrage  that  martial  law  has  been 
declared. 

The  authorities  named  in  the  schedule 
hereto  annexed  are  hereby  appointed  military 
GOVERNORS  for  the  administration  of  martial 
LAW  in  the  above  counties,  and  all  persons  will 
render  obedience  to  their  orders  in  all  matters 
whatsoever. 

NOTE    THIS: 

(a)  All  arms,  ammunition  and  explosives  in 
possession  of  any  person  not  a  member  of  His 
Majesty's  Naval,  Military,  Air  or  Police  Forces, 
or  who  is  not  in  possession  of  a  permit,  will  be 
surrendered  by  the  27th  of  December,  1920,  to 
such  persons  and  at  such  places  as  are  named  in 
the  2nd  schedule  hereto  annexed. 

(b)  After  the  27th  of  December,  1920,  any 
unauthorised  person  found  in  possession  of  arms, 
amniunition  or  explosives,  will  be  liable,  on 
conviction,  by  a  Military  Court,  to  suffer  death. 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  409 

(e)  Any  unauthorised  person  wearing  the 
uniform  or  equipment  of  His  Majesty's  Naval, 
Military,  Air  or  Police  Forces,  or  wearing 
similar  clothing  likely  to  deceive,  will  be  liable 
on  conviction  to  suffer  death,  and  any  person  in 
unauthorised  possession  of  such  uniform,  cloth- 
ing, or  equipment  will  be  liable  on  conviction  by 
a  Military  Court  to  suffer  penal  servitude. 

(d)  NOTE     WELL  : 

That  a  state  of  armed  insurrection  exists,  that 
any  person  taking  part  therein  or  harbouring 
any  person  who  has  taken  part  therein,  or 
procuring,  inviting,  aiding  or  abetting  any 
person  to  take  part  therein,  is  guilty  of  levying 
war  against  His  Majesty  the  King,  and  is  liable 
on  conviction  by  a  Military  Court  to  suffer  death. 

(e)  All  law  courts,  corporations,  councils,  and 
boards  are  hereby  directed  to  continue  to  carry 
out  their  functions  until  otherwise  ordered. 

(/)  The  Forces  of  the  Crovni  in  Ireland  are 
hereby  declared  to  be  on  active  service. 

Signed  this  12th  day  of  December,  1920. 

(Sgd.)     C.  F.  N.  Macready, 

General. 
Commanding-in- Chief  The  Forces  in  Ireland. 

1st    schedule. 
The  Generals  or  other  officers  commanding  6th 
Division,  16th,  I7th,  18th,  and  Kerry  Infantry 
Brigades. 

2nd   schedule. 
To  a  military  or  police  officer  at  any  military 
or  police  barracks  or  to  a  priest  or  other  minister 


410      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

of  religion,  who  will  at  once  arrange  for  their 
delivery  to  the  nearest  military  or  police  barracks. 


The  effect  of  this  Proclamation  was  somewhat 
curious.  Practically  no  arms  were  surrendered, 
but  all  the  same  the  desired  result  was  to  a  large 
extent  achieved.  Arms  and  ammunition  were 
thrown  away  in  large  numbers,  and  many  were 
subsequently  found  by  troops  and  police.  Others 
were  hidden  in  holes  dug  in  the  fields,  and  on 
several  occasions  these  hiding  places  were 
discovered.  The  lessons  of  this  imposition  of 
Martial  Law  have  been  that  although  it  was 
successful  at  a  comparatively  late  stage,  it  would 
not  have  been  a  desirable  policy  during  the  early 
months  of  the  year. 

Having  considered  these  various  alternatives, 
we  may  now  deal  with  the  actual  methods 
pursued  by  the  Government  during  the  year. 
These  were,  in  brief,  designed  to  deal  with  the 
abnormal  situation  in  Ireland  with  the  least 
possible  inconvenience  to  the  law-abiding  section 
of  the  community. 

It  must  be  repeated  that  the  first  necessity 
facing  the  authorities  was  the  restoration  of  law 
and  order.  This  could  only  be  accomplished  by 
strengthening  the  Forces  of  the  Crown  and  by 
equipping  them  with  the  necessary  powers  for 
dealing  with  the  disturbers  of  the  peace.  The 
first  of  these  measures  was  comparatively  simple  : 
the  number  of  troops  in  Ireland  was  increased, 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  411 

the  R.I.C.  was  rearmed  and  to  some  extent 
reorganised,  and  a  force  auxiliary  to  the 
latter  was  created.  This  was  the  *  Auxiliary- 
Division  '  of  temporary  cadets.*  But  the 
question  of  bringing  captured  criminals  to  justice 
was  not  so  simple. 

Owing  to  the  terrorism  rampant  in  the  country, 
the  ordinary  machinery  of  criminal  justice  had 
completely  broken  down.  Witnesses  and  juries 
refused  to  attend  the  courts,  or,  even  if  willing, 
were  forcibly  prevented  from  so  doing.  In  cases 
where  they  had  the  courage  to  present  themselves, 
they  were  subjected  to  every  form  of  ill-treatment 
by  the  Republicans,  many  of  them  indeed 
being  murdered  in  cold  blood.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  was  obvious  that  if  criminals 
were  to  be  brought  to  book,  some  alternative 
means  for  the  administration  of  justice  must  be 
devised. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  an  alternative  means 
already  existed,  but  it  was  incomplete.  Under 
the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Regulations,  prisoners 
could  be  tried  by  courts  martial  for  offences 
specified  in  those  Regulations.  But  there  were 
many  offences  requiring  punishment  which  did 
not  come  within  their  scope.  In  order  to 
empower  courts  martial  to  deal  with  these 
offences.  The  Restoration  of  Order  in  Ireland 
Bill  was  introduced,  and  became  law  on  August 
12th. 

An  official  announcement  issued  on  August 
21st  sufficiently  explains  the  scope  of  the  Act. 

*  Se«  page  281. 


412      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

RESTORATION  OF  ORDER  IN  IRELAND  REGULATIONS. 

"  Regulations  have  now  been  made  by  an 
Order  in  Council  under  the  Restoration  of  Order 
in  Ireland  Act,  and  will  be  brought  into  operation 
forthwith. 

*'  The  Act  authorises  the  issue  of  Regulations 
under  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Ck)nsolidation 
Act,  1914,  for  effecting  the  restoration  and 
maintenance  of  order  in  Ireland  where  it  appears 
to  His  Majesty  in  Council  that,  owing  to  the 
existence  of  a  state  of  disorder,  the  ordinary  law 
is  inadequate  for  the  prevention  and  punishment 
of  crime,  or  the  maintenance  of  order. 

**  The  Regulations  have  been  rendered 
necessary  by  the  abnormal  conditions  which  at 
present  prevail  in  certain  parts  of  Ireland, 
where  an  organised  campaign  of  violence  and 
intimidation  has  resulted  in  the  partial  break- 
down of  the  machinery  of  the  ordinary  law  and 
in  the  non- performance  by  public  bodies  and 
officials  of  their  statutory  obligations.  In 
particular  it  has  been  found  that  criminals  are 
protected  from  arrest,  that  trial  by  jury  cannot 
be  obtained  because  of  the  intimidation  of 
witnesses  and  jurors,  and  that  Local  Authorities 
and  their  officers  stand  in  fear  of  injury  to  their 
persons  or  property  if  they  carry  out  their 
statutory  duties. 

"  The  Order  in  Council  provides  among  other 
things  : — 

(1)     For  the   putting  into  operation   of 
many    of    the    existing    Defence    of    the 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  413 

Realm  Regulations  for  the  purpose  of  the 
restoration  or  maintenance  of  order. 

(2)  For  the  trial  of  crimes  by  Courts 
Martial  or  by  specially  constituted  Civil 
Courts,  and  for  the  investment  of  those 
Courts  with  the  necessary  powers. 

(3)  For  the  withholding  from  Local 
Authorities  who  refuse  to  discharge  the 
obligations  imposed  upon  them  by  Statute 
of  grants  which  otherwise  would  be  payable 
to  them  from  public  funds  and  for  the 
application  of  the  grants  so  withheld  to  the 
discharge  of  the  obligations  which  the  Local 
Authority  has  failed  to  fulfil. 

(4)  For  the  holding  of  Sittings  of  Courts 
elsewhere  than  in  the  ordinary  Courthouses, 
where  these  Courthouses  have  been  destroyed 
or  otherwise  made  unavailable. 

*'  Although  the  Regulations  are  not,  in  terms, 
Restricted  to  any  particular  part  or  parts  of 
Ireland,  it  is  the  Grovernment's  intention  that 
they  shall  not  be  applied  in  substitution  for  the 
provisions  of  the  ordinary  law  in  places  where 
the  judicial  and  administrative  machinery  of  the 
ordinary  law  are  available,  and  are  not  obstructed 
in  their  operations  by  the  methods  of  violence  and 
intimidation  above  mentioned.  For  instance, 
under  the  Regulations  an  ordinary  crime  can 
only  be  tried  by  a  Court  Martial  or  by  a  specially 
constituted  Civil  Court,  if  the  case  is  referred 
to  the  Competent  Naval  or  Military  Authority. 
Instructions  will  be  issued  by  the  Irish  Executive 
to  ensure  that  such  cases  will  not  be  referred  to 


414      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  Competent  Naval  or  Military  Authority 
except  where  the  prevalence  of  actual  or 
threatened  violence  or  intimidation  has  produced 
conditions  rendering  it  impracticable  for  them 
to  be  dealt  with  by  due  process  of  ordinary  law. " 

The  Restoration  of  Order  in  Ireland  Regula- 
tions have  been  of  great  service  in  enabling 
persons  to  be  brought  to  justice.  The 
simultaneous  strengthening  of  the  Forces  of  the 
Crown,  which  put  them  in  a  position  to  secure 
evidence  against  the  members  of  the  murder- 
gangs,  was  the  principal  factor  in  producing  the 
remarkable  improvement  in  the  situation  which 
occurred  towards  the  end  of  the  year.  So  great 
was  this  improvement  that,  as  we  have  seen 
(Chapter  IV.),  during  the  latter  months  of 
the  year  the  Republican  element  began  to  make 
tentative  overtures  towards  some  slackening  of 
the  campaign  against  them.  They  realised  that 
the  net  was  slowly  closing  in  upon  them,  and  that 
they  were  threatened  with  annihilation  as  the 
result  of  the  successful  measures  taken  by  the 
Government.  Outrage  became  less  frequent,  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  I.R.A.  began  to  see  ever  more 
clearly  that  immunity  from  punishment  was  no 
longer  to  be  relied  upon.  The  murder-gangs 
dissolved  owing  to  the  defection  of  their 
members,  and  only  the  leaders,  too  deeply 
involved  in  terrible  crime  to  cherish  any  hope  of 
mercy,  desperate,  fighting  like  rats  in  a  corner, 
were  left,  banded  together,  to  carry  on  their 
dreadful  orgy  of  bloodshed.      A  more  complete 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  415 

justification  of  the  official  policy  can  hardly  be 
imagined. 

Here  we  must  digress  a  little  to  refer  to  the 
attitude  of  the  Government  towards  proposals 
for  *  peace  '  emanating  from  Sinn  Fein  sources. 
In  the  House  of  Commons  on  10th  December, 
1920,  the  Prime  Minister  propounded  the  policy 
of  the  Government  in  regard  to  this  matter  in 
the  following  words  : — 

'*  During  the  last  few  weeks  the  Government 
have  been  in  touch  with  intermediaries  who  have 
been  anxious  to  bring  about  a  better  understand- 
ing. There  have  been  no  negotiations,  but  certain 
people  who  offered  their  services  have  seen  both 
sides  and  have  thus  enabled  the  Governme«it  to 
arrive  at  certain  conclusions  about  the  position  in 
Ireland.  As  the  result  of  their  consideration, 
they  have  after  a  very  careful  survey  of  the 
situation  decided  upon  the  course  which  I  now 
propose  to  unfold  to  the  House. 

"  They  are  convinced  that  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  of  all  sections  are  anxious  for 
peace  and  for  a  fair  settlement.  The  Government 
on  their  side  are  no  less  anxious  for  peace  and  a 
fair  and  lasting  settlement,  ,and  in  this  respect  I 
feel  confident  they  represent  the  views  of  the 
whole  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Government  are  also  very 
regretfully  convinced  that  the  party,  or  rather 
the  section  which  controls  the  organisation  of 
murder  and  outrage  in  Ireland,  is  not  yet  ready 
for  a  real  peace,  that  is  to  say  for  a  peace  that 
will  accept  the  only  basis  on  which  peace  can 


416      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

be  concluded — an  acceptance  which  would  be 
consistent  with  the  unbroken  unity  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  Their  communications  are  all 
conceived  in  the  spirit  of  proposals  from  an 
independent  belligerent  power  offering  peace  to 
another  independent  belligerent  with  whom  they 
are  at  war,  and  to  whom  they  are  in  a  position  to 
dictate.     .     .     . 

"  [The  Government]  feel  they  have  no  option 
but  to  continue  and  indeed  to  intensify  their 
campaign  against  that  small  but  highly  organised 
and  desperate  minority  who  are  using  murder 
and  outrage  in  order  to  obtain  the  impossible  and 
bring  peace  neither  to  Ireland  nor  to  Great 
Britain,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  to  open  and 
encourage  every  channel  whereby  the  forces  in 
Ireland  which  are  really  anxious  for  an 
honourable  settlement  can  find  expression  and  so 
lead  to  negotiations  which  may  produce  a  real 
and  lasting  peace. 

' '  This  is  the  general  policy  of  the  Government, 
and  I  want  the  House  to  understand  that  this  is 
a  considered  policy  that  aims  on  the  one  hand 
at  the  repression  of  crime  and  on  the  other  at 
preparing  the  way  towards  a  better  under- 
standing between  the  two  peoples. 

"  Two  very  important  documents  have  been 
received  in  Ireland  in  the  course  of  the  last  few 
days.  The  first,  and  the  most  important  of  them, 
is  a  document  which  I  have  received  from  the 
Galway  County  Council.  It  is  a  very  r  imarkable 
document,  and  it  is  remarkable  from  the  fact  that 
the  Galway  County  Council,  I  believe,  is  almost 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  417 

entirely  Sinn  Fein.  It  has  proclaimed  its 
adhesion  to  the  Republican  party  and  I  rather 
think  to  the  Dail  Eireann,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  the  assembly  that  speaks  on  behalf  of  this 
body. 

"  They  sent  a  resolution,  which  has  already 
appeared  in  the  Press.  This,  if  I  may  so  put  it, 
is  the  first  area  of  dry  land  which  has  shown 
itself  after  the  deluge  of  unconstitutionalism  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  It  is  a  return  on  the 
part  of  a  very  important  body  to  constitutional 
methods — an  avowed  return.  After  all,  the 
Galway  County  Council  is  a  body  set  up  under 
the  authority  of  the  Imperial  Parliament.  It 
derives  its  authority  from  this  Parliament,  and 
it  is  a  constitutional  exponent  of  the  views  of 
that  particular  part  of  the  country.  It  has  a  full 
constitutional  right  to  communicate  with  the 
Imperial  Government  upon  any  question  which 
affects  the  peace  of  that  area,  and  a  communica- 
tion from  that  body  to  the  Imperial  Governm^at 
couched  in  these  terms  is  in  itself,  I  think,  a 
very  welcome  sign  of  the  new  spirit  coming  over 
Ireland.  I  think  it  is  our  duty  to  encourage  it, 
because  in  doing  so  we  encourage  a  return  to 
constitutional  methods  in  an  area  which  has  been 
one  of  the  most  disturbed  in  Ireland,  one  of  the 
most  difficult  in  Ireland,  and  which,  if  I  may 
use  the  term,  has  until  quite  recently  been 
completely  in  the  hands  of  the  rebel  forces  in 
Ireland.  It  is  only  a  very  short  time  ago  that  I 
was  talking  to  the  General  Officer  Commanding 
that  area,  and  his  opinion  at  that  time  was  that 

BB 


418      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  recognition  of  authority  would  be  difficult  to 
establish  in  that  county.  This  is,  therefore,  a 
very  important  and  promising  episode  in  the 
relations  between  the  two  countries.  The 
resolution  was  carried,  I  believe,  against  the 
protests  of  the  Sinn  Fein  leaders  in  that  area. 
That  makes  it  still  more  important.  A  similar 
resolution,  not  in  exactly  the  same  terms,  but 
breathing  the  same  spirit  was  carried  by  the 
Galway  Urban  Council. 

"  There  is  also  a  telegram  which  was  sent  to 
me  by  a  distinguished,  a  very  able  and  very  highly 
respected  Irish  priest,  Father  O 'Flanagan.  It 
is  true — and  one  must  not  forget  it — that 
although  he  calls  himself,  in  the  absence  of  Mr. 
De  Valera,  *  acting  President  of  Sinn  Fein, '  his 
action  has  been  repudiated  by  the  heads  of  the 
organisation  which  is  responsible,  in  our  judg- 
ment, for  murder  in  Ireland.  The  House  must 
bear  in  mind,  when  they  come  to  seek  the  reason 
for  our  adopting  a  two-fold  policy,  that,  although 
Father  O' Flanagan,  speaking  on  behalf,  as  he 
thought,  of  at  least  one  section  of  Sinn  Fein,  has 
indicated  the  desire  for  peace,  yet  the  moment  he 
sent  that  telegram  he  was  repudiated  by  the  heads 
of  the  organisation  who  are  responsible  for 
murder.  That  is  why  I  say  that,  in  my  judg- 
ment, that  organisation  is  not  of  the  same  opinion 
as  the  majority  of  the  people  in  Ireland  at  the 
present  moment. 

"  We  base  our  policy  upon  a  recognition  of 
those  two  facts.  The  resolution  of  the  Galway 
County  Council  has  been  very  widely  advertised 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  419 

in  all  the  Press,  and  rightly  so.  It  condemns  the 
murders.  It  condemns  reprisals,  but  under  the 
circumstances  I  think  it  is  too  much  to  expect  a 
Sinn  Fein  body  not  to  express  some  condemnation 
of  that  character — they  would  lose  their 
authority  with  Irish  opinion  if  they  did  not. 
But  it  requires  great  courage  on  their  part  to 
condemn  the  murders  committed  by  the  Irish 
Republican  Army,  and  let  us  frankly  admit  their 
courage  in  doing  so.  I  may  begin  with  that,  and 
it  is  the  first  resolution  of  the  kind  that  I  have 
received  from  any  body.  They  say  that  they 
believe  that  this  unfortunate  state  of  affairs  is 
detrimental  to  the  interests  of  both  countries  in 
such  a  crisis  of  the  world's  affairs.  That  is  quite 
true.  Now  they  come  to  a  practical  suggestion  : 
'  We,    therefore,    as   adherents   of   Dail 

Eireann,  request  that  body  to  appoint  three 

delegates.' 

' '  They  suggest  that  the  initiative  lies  with  the 
British  Government,  who  should  withdraw  the 
ban  on  the  meeting  of  Dail  Eireann  for  the 
purpose  of  appointing  delegates.  That  is  the 
practical  suggestion  which  they  put  forward. 
At  the  present  moment  that  body  is  not 
permitted  to  meet,  and  of  course  we  cannot 
recognise  it,  for  to  recognise  it  as  a  separate 
body  is  to  recognise  that  the  part  of  the  country 
which  they  represent  constitutes  a  separate 
republic  apart  from  the  United  Kingdom.  That 
cannot  be,  and  it  is  right  that,  although  I  have 
said  it  here  once  or  twice,  that  should  be  repeated, 
because  imf  ortunately  in  Ireland  they  are  apt  to 


420      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

emphasise  the  things  that  suit  them  and  not  call 
attention  to  the  things  that  do  not  suit  them.  I 
do  not  think  they  are  any  exception  in  that 
respect  to  people  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  It 
is  necessary  that  that  should  be  emphasised, 
because  it  is  no  use  encouraging  impossible  hopes. 
"  We  do  not,  therefore,  recognise  the  body 
called  the  Dail  Eireann.  But  when  you  come  to 
the  members  individually,  they  are  the  people 
who  have  been  elected  under  the  constitution  of 
this  country  to  this  House.  They  are  the  people 
who  have  been  elected  by  the  constituencies 
which  have  been  parcelled  out  by  this  House,  on 
a  franchise  which  has  been  agreed  upon  by  this 
House  at  the  general  election  at  which  this  House 
of  Commons  was  elected.  They  are  not  permitted 
to  meet  at  the  present  moment,  and  the  question 
is  whether  it  is  desirable  that  they  should  be 
permitted  to  do  so  in  order  to  consider  the  new 
situation  which  has  arisen  in  Ireland.  There  are 
very  practical  difficulties  in  the  way.  Some  of 
these  members  have,  in  our  judgment,  been  guilty 
of  crimes  which  would  make  them  liable  to 
prosecution  and  punishment,  whether  in  Ireland 
or  Great  Britain,  or  in  any  other  civilised 
country  in  the  world.  We  cannot  possibly  grant 
to  those  who  have  been  guilty  of  crimes  of 
violence,  of  murder,  of  very  brutal  murder,  a 
safe  conduct  which  we  would  not  grant  to  any 
British  Member  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
similar  circumstances.  It  is  too  much  to  ask  of 
any  Government,  however  desirous  they  might  be 
for  peace  in  Ireland,  that  they  should  ask  the 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  421 

Forces  of  the  Crown,  who  have  been  subjected 
to  all  these  outrages  and  whose  comrades  have 
been  struck  down  through  the  action  of  these  men, 
to  permit  them  to  go  through  under  the  safe 
conduct  of  the  British  Government.  We  must 
therefore  make  an  exception  in  the  case  of  those 
men.  This  is  the  reply  which  it  is  proposed  I 
should  send  to-day  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Galway 
County  Council : — 

*  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  4th 
inst.,  forwarding  copy  of  a  resolution  passed 
by  the  Galway  County  Council,  and  wish 
to  assure  your  Council  that  the  Government 
welcome  every  indication  on  the  part  of 
representative  persons  and  bodies  in  Ireland 
of  a  desire  to  co-operate  in  bringing  to  an 
end  the  present  unhappy  state  of  lawlessness 
and  ensuring  a  return  to  constitutional 
methods  in  that  coimtry. 

*  The  first  necessary  preliminary  to  the 
re-establishment  of  normal  conditions  is  that 
murder  and  crimes  of  violence  shall  cease. 
It  is  to  that  end  that  the  efforts  of  the  Irish 
Executive  have  been  constantly  directed,  and 
until  it  has  been  attained  no  progress  can  be 
made  towards  a  political  settlement. 

*  The  Government  are  prepared  to 
facilitate  the  meeting  together  for  this 
purpose  of  persons  duly  elected  to  represent 
constituencies  in  Ireland  or  any  part  of 
Ireland.  There  are,  however,  certain 
individuals  who  are  gravely  implicated  in 
the  commission  of  crime  so  serious  that  the 


422      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

Government  cannot  consent  to  abandon  their 
elementary  duty  of  bringing  such  persons 
to  trial.  To  all  members  except  these 
individuals  a  safe  conduct  v^rould  be  granted 
by  the  Government.  It  should  be  clearly 
understood  that  His  Majesty's  Government 
must  insist  that  effective  measures  be  taken 
to  ensure  the  cessation  of  murder  and  other 
crimes  of  violence  and  the  surrender  of  all 
arms  unlawfully  held.' 

*'  Before  reading  the  next  paragraph  I  should 
say  that  the  Galvt^ay  County  Council  did  not 
recognise  the  authority  of  the  Irish  Local 
Government  Board.  They  have  now  returned 
to  their  allegiance  in  that  respect,  and  that  in 
itself  is  a  promising  incident. 
"  The  letter  proceeds  : — 

'  I  would  add  that  the  Government  have 

learnt  with  satisfaction  of  the   action  of 

your  Council  in  submitting  their  accounts  to 

audit  by  the  Local  Government  Board,  and 

that  the  fullest  support  can  be  assured  to 

every  local  authority  which  loyally  carries 

out  its  obligations  under  the  law.' 

*'  It  will  be  clear  from  this  letter  that  the 

Government,    while    anxious    to   explore    every 

avenue  which  may  lead  to  peace,  and  to  remove 

as  far  as  possible  any  obstacle  which  may  stand 

in  the  way  of  persons  in  Ireland  who  desire 

peace,  are  determined  to  use  all  the  forces  at 

their  command  to  stamp  out  murder  and  outrage, 

and  to  disarm  ill-affected  persons.     With  this 

object   the   Government   have   decided   to   take 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  423 

further  action  to  which  I  shall  refer  later. 
Perhaps  I  had  better  before  doing  so,  read  the 
letter  which  has  been  sent  in  reply  to  the 
communications  of  Father  0 'Flanagan : — 
'  I  have  received  your  message.  His 
Majesty's  Government  does  not  lag  behind 
any  section  of  the  Irish  people  in  the  desire 
that  Ireland  should  enjoy  to  the  full  the 
blessing  of  peace  and  prosperity.  We  are 
prepared  to  afford  facilities  for  the  free 
discussion  of  the  whole  situation  by  the  duly 
elected  representatives  of  constituencies  in 
Ireland  or  any  part  of  Ireland.  There  are, 
however,  certain  individuals  who  are  gravely 
implicated  in  the  commission  of  crime  so 
serious  that  the  Government  cannot  consent 
to  abandon  their  elementary  duty  of  bringing 
such  persons  to  trial.  To  all  members  except 
these  individuals  a  safe  conduct  will  be 
granted  by  the  Government.  It  should  be 
clearly  understood  that  His  Majesty's 
Government  must  insist  that  effective 
measures  be  taken  to  ensure  the  cessation 
of  murder  and  other  crimes  of  violence  and 
the  surrender  of  all  arms  unlawfully  held. 
I  have  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  16th 
August  and  on  several  subsequent  occasions 
defined  the  fundamental  conditions  to  which 
any  political  settlement  must  conform.  His 
Majesty's  Government  adhere  absolutely  to 
those  conditions,  and  would  be  glad  to  learn 
that  the  party  which  you  represent  are 
prepared  to  accept  them.' 


424      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

'  *  That  is  the  reply  which  it  is  proposed  to  send 
to  Father  O 'Flanagan. 

"  Let  me  say  at  once — I  think  it  is  very 
important  to  say  it — that  there  should  be  no 
suspicion  of  any  breach  of  faith  if  they  do  meet. 
What  I  mean  is  that  it  would  be  very  unfortunate 
if  the  Members  came  to  a  conference  under  the 
impression  that  they  had  a  safe  conduct,  and 
later  the  feeling  was  created  that  there  had  been 
an  act  of  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  British 
Government.  Nothing  could  be  worse  than  that 
from  the  point  of  view  of  our  honour  and  of  the 
peace  of  Ireland.  We  shall  certainly  let  them 
know  beforehand  who  are  the  Members  to  whom 
we  are  prepared  to  give  a  safe  conduct,  and  who 
are  the  Members  to  whom  we  could  not  possibly 
give  a  safe  conduct.  Due  protection  will  be 
afforded  to  those  who  have  a  safe  conduct  by  the 
police  and  by  the  whole  Forces  of  the  Crown,  who 
will  be  available  against  any  possible  attack  upon 
them. 

"  I  come  now  to  the  second  part  of  my  state- 
ment. After  a  good  many  consultations  which 
the  Chief  Secretary,  my  right  honourable  friend 
the  Lord  Privy  Seal  (who  is  not  here  at  present) 
and  I  have  had  with  many  individuals  who 
stated  that  they  were  in  communication  with 
representative  men  in  Ireland,  which  communica- 
tions might  be  utilised  in  the  interests  of  peace, 
we  have  come  to  certain  conclusions.  It  is  very 
difficult,  of  course,  to  know  to  what  extent  those 
persons  can  really  speak  on  behalf  of  those  they 
assume  to  represent  in  this  matter. 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  425 

"  That  is  no  imputation  upon  the  good  faith 
of  those  concerned — not  the  least.  My  right 
honourable  friend  opposite  (Mr.  Asquith)  and  I 
during  the  War  had  to  measure  the  value  of 
communications  of  that  kind  in  reference  to 
Germany,  Austria,  Turkey,  and  other  countries, 
for  there  were  constant  communications  with 
men  who  came  with  the  very  best  faith  and  a 
certain  amount  of  authority.  As  he  knows  very 
well,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  when  we 
pursued  the  matter  we  found  it  ended  in  nothing. 
That  was  disappointing.  Therefore  that 
experience  made  me  a  good  deal  more  cautious 
when  I  came  to  deal  with  men  who  professed  to 
be  in  a  position  to  make  peace  so  far  as  Ireland 
was  concerned. 

"  However,  it  is  our  business  to  give  them 
every  opportunity,  because  peace  is  so  very 
important.  But  one  thing  has  to  be  made  quite 
clear.  I  regret  it.  But  as  regards  the  men 
whom  we  know  to  be  directing  the  murders,  I 
think  it  will  be  found  that  they  have  not  given 
us  any  indication  that  they  are  prepared  to 
surrender  upon  the  only  terms  which  this  country 
could  possibly  accept,  consistently  either  with 
its  own  self-respect  or  with  a  prospect  of 
enduring  peace  for  Ireland.  I  very  much  regret 
that.  We  must  consider  that  side  by  side  with 
the  encouragement  which  we  are  prepared  to  give 
to  all  those  who  are  anxious  for  peace — and  they 
are  growing  in  numbers,  in  influence,  and  what  is 
much  more  significant,  in  independence.  This 
means  that  intimidation  is  breaking  down.    We 


426       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

are  determined  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  break  up 
these  terrorists  who  are  more  or  less  organised, 
because  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  possible  for 
Ireland  to  recover  that  independence  which  is 
essential  to  her  if  she  is  to  make  peace,  until 
these  men  have  been  brought  to  justice  or  at  any 
rate  to  surrender." 

Of  those  who  made  earnest  endeavours  to 
persuade  the  Republican  leaders  to  listen  to 
reason,  two  men,  both  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  may  be  mentioned.  The  first  is  Father 
O' Flanagan,  referred  to  by  the  Prime  Minister, 
who  had  been  associated  with  the  Sinn  Fein 
Movement  from  the  first,  and  was  in  fact  one  of 
the  vice-presidents  of  the  Sinn  Fein  Executive. 
As  his  negotiations  with  the  Government  were 
taking  a  most  favourable  turn  towards  the  close 
of  1920  he  encountered  such  opposition  from  the 
Republican  extremists  that  he  was  compelled  to 
abandon  them.  The  second  is  Monsignor  Clune, 
Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Perth,  Western 
Australia,  who  devoted  the  greater  part  of  a 
holiday  in  Europe  to  an  endeavour  to  find  a  basis 
of  agreement  between  the  Government  and  Sinn 
Fein.  He  met  with  the  same  difficulties  as  his 
predecessor,  and  once  more  the  obstinacy  of  the 
Republican  extremists  proved  a  fatal  barrier  to 
the  completion  of  an  agreement  which  would  have 
saved  Ireland  from  a  terrible  toll  of  murder  and 
destruction. 

Meanwhile  the  Government  of  Ireland  Bill 
had  been  proceeding  through  Parliament,   and 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  427 

had  been  definitely  accepted  by  Ulster.  It 
became  law  on  23rd  December,  and  thus  at  a 
stroke  altered  the  whole  political  entity  of 
Ireland. 

It  is  not  necessary  here*  to  set  out  in  full  the 
provisions  of  the  Act,  but  it  may  be  useful  to  give 
a  general  idea  of  their  purport.  Briefly,  then, 
the  Act  sets  up  two  Parliaments  for  Ireland,  one 
for  the  North,  that  is  to  say  for  the  counties  of 
Antrim,  Armagh,  Down,  Fermanagh,  London- 
derry and  Tyrone,  and  one  for  the  South,  that  is 
to  say  the  rest  of  Ireland.  In  each  case  the 
Parliament  consists  of  a  House  of  Commons  and 
a  Senate.  These  Parliaments  are  given  legislative 
powers  in  their  own  spheres,  with  certain 
exceptions,  of  which  the  most  important  are 
naval  and  military  services,  foreign  relations, 
and  taxation.  On  the  administrative  side 
certain  services  are  reserved,  either  for  varying 
periods  or  until  the  date  of  Irish  Union. 

Complete  powers  are  given  to  the  Parliaments 
to  settle  the  vexed  question  of  '  partition  '  for 
themselves.  At  any  time  they  may  by  identical 
Acts  proclaim  the  Union  of  Ireland,  and 
substitute  a  single  Parliament  for  the  two  set 
up  by  the  present  Act.  This  point  is  evidently 
not  understood  by  those  who  deride  the  Act  under 
the  foolish  designation  of  '  The  Partition  Act.' 
Until  such  times  as  the  Irish  people  shall  have 
decided  to  unite,  a  Council  of  Ireland  is  set  up, 
as  a  kind  of  committee  of  both  Parliaments,  to 

•  It  is  given  in  fuller  detail  in  Appendix  A  of  this  volume. 


428       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

deal  with  matters  which  involve  both  North  and 
South. 

This  Council  consists  of  a  President,  to  be 
nominated  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  twenty 
members  elected  by  the  Parliament  of  Northern 
Ireland,  and  twenty  elected  by  the  Parliament  of 
Southern  Ireland.  The  appointment  of  these 
members  is  to  be  the  first  business  of  both 
Parliaments.  The  constitution  of  the  Council 
may,  from  time  to  time,  be  varied  by  identical 
Acts  passed  by  the  two  Parliaments.  The 
Council  is  given  control  over  railway  and  fishery 
administration  throughout  the  country  and 
Private  Bills  affecting  both  parts  of  Ireland. 
In  addition  to  the  direct  powers  given  to  the 
Council  it  has  important  advisory  functions.  It 
is  to  consider  and  advise  upon  any  questions 
affecting  the  welfare  of  both  Northern  and 
Southern  Ireland,  ascertaining  what  services 
could,  in  the  common  interest,  be  transferred  to 
a  body  having  jurisdiction  in  the  country  as  a 
whole.  Should  the  Parliaments  choose  to  adopt 
such  a  suggestion  of  the  Council,  they  may,  by 
identical  Acts,  transfer  certain  of  their  powers 
to  it.  Upon  the  declaration  of  the  Union  of 
Ireland  the  Council  automatically  ceases  to 
exist. 

The  present  Act  follows  the  Act  of  1914  in 
assigning  to  Ireland  42  members  in  the  British 
Parliament,  to  be  elected  by  the  existing 
Parliamentary  counties,  boroughs  or  divisions,  or 
by  groups  of  them ;  but,  unlike  the  previous  Act, 
it  gives  in  addition  representation  in  the  British 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  429 

House  of  Commons  to  the  Irish  Universities. 
Until  the  next  British  General  Election,  however, 
the  existing  Irish  members  will  retain  their  seats 
at  Westminster. 

The  Act  thus  provides  a  generous  measure  of 
Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  and  may  be  considered 
to  be  the  only  possible  compromise  between 
conflicting  views  in  Ireland  as  they  exist  at 
present.  It  is  impossible  to  solve  the  long- 
standing Irish  Question  in  one  measure,  however 
comprehensive.  The  Government  have  wisely 
considered  that  the  best  course  to  a  permanent 
solution  lies  through  the  grant  of  a  definite 
measure  of  Home  Rule  to  Ireland,  in  the  hope 
that  through  the  exercise  of  this  measure,  and  as 
the  result  of  experience  gained  during  its 
operation,  it  may  ultimately  be  possible  to 
develop  a  final  and  satisfactory  solution  to  the 
problem  of  the  relation  of  Ireland  to  the  British 
Empire. 

The  problem  offered  to  Sinn  Fein  by  the  passing 
of  the  Act  merits  a  moment's  consideration. 
The  Act  provides  that  in  the  event  of  less  than 
half  of  the  members  of  either  House  of  Commons 
taking  their  seats,  that  part  of  Ireland  repre- 
sented by  the  defaulting  House  shall  be  adminis- 
tered by  the  British  authorities  by  what  is  in 
effect  Crown  Colony  government,  namely  by  a 
Legislative  Council  appointed  by  the  Lord 
Lieutenant.  In  the  face  of  this  provision  Sinn 
Fein  has  three  alternatives  before  it :  to  ignore 
the  Act  altogether,  to  put  up  candidates  at  the 
elections  who  would  be  pledged  not  to  take  their 


430      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

seats,  or  to  renounce  its  ridiculous  pretensions  to 
an  independent  Republic  and  permit  its  members 
to  sit  in  the  Parliaments. 

We  may  consider  these  alternatives  in  order. 
Should  Sinn  Fein  ignore  the  Act  altogether,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  candidates  in  non-Sinn  Fein 
interests  would  come  forward  in  more  than 
sufficient  quantities  to  ensure  the  establishment 
of  a  Parliament  even  in  Southern  Ireland. 
The  elections  will  be  held  in  circumstances  which 
will  preclude  the  possibility  of  intimidation  of 
electors  or  candidates,  all  who  wish  to  record 
their  votes  will  be  enabled  to  do  so  without  fear 
of  persecution.  Sinn  Fein  would  then  find  itself 
without  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  country,  and 
would  thus  have  perpetrated  an  even  worse 
strategical  error  than  it  did  in  1918,  when  its 
members  refused  to  take  their  seats  at  West- 
minster. 

If  Sinn  Fein  nominated  candidates  for  the 
election  who  would  be  pledged  not  to  take  their 
oaths  on  election,  with  a  view  to  rendering  the 
formation  of  a  Southern  Parliament  impossible 
owing  to  lack  of  sufficient  members,  a  curious 
position  would  arise.  A  vote  recorded  for  a 
Sinn  Fein  candidate  would  mean  a  vote  recorded 
for  the  continuance  of  British  rule  in  the 
country,  which  rule  it  is  the  whole  object  of  Sinn 
Fein  to  destroy,  and  this  rule  would  be  continued 
solely  by  the  Sinn  Fein  vote.  A  vote  recorded 
against  Sinn  Fein  would,  on  the  contrary,  be  a 
vote  in  favour  of  the  government  of  Ireland  by 
the  Irish.     Indeed  a  situation  which  might  be 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  431 

expected  to  appeal  to  the  Irish  People,  but  one 
which  would  exhibit  very  clearly  to  their  sym- 
pathisers that  their  future  destiny  lies  in  their 
own  hands. 

The  third  alternative  is  for  Sinn  Fein  to 
renounce  the  republican  ideal,  and  to  consent  to 
its  representatives  sitting  in  the  Southern  Parlia- 
ment, and  for  that  purpose  taking  the  oath.  By 
what  m^ans  this  change  of  attitude  could  be 
accomplished  it  is  not  our  business  to  enquire. 
It  is  not,  however,  beyond  the  bounds  of  rational 
hope  that  those  who  are  now  members  of  the 
Sinn  Fein  party  may  one  day  be  found  in  session 
in  an  Irish  Parliament  in  Dublin,  striving  by 
constitutional  methods  to  secure  a  new  ideal  of  a 
free  and  unfettered  Ireland  within  the  Empire. 
Nor  is  it  difficult  to  conceive  the  British  people, 
convinced  by  the  novel  experience  of  an  Ireland 
capable  of  wise  self-government,  granting  to  her 
the  proud  status  of  an  autonomous  Dominion. 


APPENDIX    A. 

GOVERNMENT   OF   IRELAND   ACT,  1920. 


1.  WHAT  THE  ACT  DOES. — The  Government  of  Ireland 
Act  recognises  the  aspirations  of  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Irish  people,  and  gives  to  Ireland,  South  and  North,  a 
larger  measure  of  Home  Rule  than  Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill 
of  1893,  the  principles  of  which  had  been  accepted  by 
Mr.  Parnell,  or  the  Government  of  Ireland  Act,  1914, 
which  was  accepted  by  Mr.  Redmond.  It  sets  up  a 
Parliament  for  Northern  Ireland  (i.e.,  the  counties  of 
Antrim,  Armagh,  Down,  Fermanagh,  Londonderry  and 
Tyrone,  and  the  cities  of  Belfast  and  Londonderry)  and 
another  Parliament  for  Southern  Ireland  (i.e.,  the  rest 
of  Ireland) — a  Government  for  Northen  Ireland,  to  be 
administered  under  Ministers  who  must  be  members  of 
the  Parliament  of  Northern  Ireland  and  responsible  to 
it,  and  a  Government  for  Southern  Ireland,  to  be 
administered  under  Ministers  who  must  be  members  of 
the  Parliament  of  Southern  Ireland  and  responsible 
to  it. 

Although  at  the  beginning  there  are  to  be  two  Parlia- 
ments and  two  Governments  in  Ireland,  the  Act  con- 
templates and  affords  every  facility  for  union  between 
North  and  South,  and  empowers  the  two  Parliaments  by 
mutual  agreement  and  joint  action  to  terminate  parti- 
tion and  to  set  up  one  Parliament  and  one  Government 
for  the  whole  of  Ireland.  With  a  view  to  the  eventual 
establishment  of  a  single  Parliament,  and  to  bringing 
about  harmonious  action  between  the  two  Parliaments 


APPENDIX   A.  433 

and  Goven^ments,  thei'e  is  created  a  bond  of  union  in 
the  meantime  by  means  of  a  Council  of  Ireland  which 
is  to  consist  of  twenty  representatives  elected  by  each 
Parliament  and  a  President  nominated  by  the  Lord 
Lieutenant.  It  will  fall  to  the  members  of  this  body 
to  initiate  proposals  for  united  action  on  the  part  of 
the  two  Parliaments  and  to  bring  forward  these  pro- 
posals in  the  respective  Parliaments. 

2.  HOW    THE    PARLIAMENTS    ARE    TO    BE    FORMED. Each 

Parliament  is  to  include  a  House  of  Commons  and  a 
Senate.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  to 
be  elected  by  the  people  of  Ireland  (men  and  women) 
on  the  proportional  representation   system. 

The  Senate  of  the  Southern  Parliament  is  to  consist 
of  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  the  Lord  Mayors  of 
Dublin  and  Cork,  and  sixty-one  other  members,  includ- 
ing* four  archbishops  or  bishops  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  two  archbishops  or  bishops  of  the  Protestant 
Church  of  Ireland,  seventeen  representatives  of  com- 
merce, labour,  and  the  learned  and  scientific  professions, 
sixteen  Irish  peers,  eight  Irish  Privy  Councillors  and 
fourteen  representatives  of  the  county  councils  of 
Southern  Ireland. 

The  Senate  of  the  Northern  Parliament  is  to  consist 
of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Belfast,  the  Mayor  of  London- 
derry and  twenty-four  other  members,  who  are  to  be 
elected  by  the  Northern  House  of  Commons  on  the  pro- 
portional representation  system. 

3.  POWERS  OF  THE  PARLIAMENTS. — Each  Parliament 
will  have  power  to  make  laws  for  the  peace,  order  and 
good  government  of  Southern  or  Northern  Ireland  in 
all  matters  relating  exclusively  to  Southern  or  Northern 
Ireland,  as  the  case  may  be.  Certain  matters  are 
definitely  excluded  from  the  powers  of  the  Parliaments 
(see  below),  but,  with  these  exceptions,  the  whole  field 
of  legislation  will  be  open  to  them. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  any  complete  list  of 

CC 


434      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  subjects  with  which  the  Parliaments  can  deal,  but 
the  following"  list  includes  some  of  the  matters  on  which 
they  can  make  new  laws  or  alter  the  existing  law :  — 

Agriculture,  allotments,  Bills  of  Sale,  blind  and 
other  afflicted  persons,  census  and  statistics,  charities 
and  non-commercial  associations,  such  as  friendly 
societies,  building  societies  and  trade  unions,  children 
(employment,  cruelty,  maintenance,  «S:c.),  civil  rights, 
companies  and  other  commercial  associations,  county 
courts  and  mag-istrates  (resident  magistrates  after  an 
interval  not  exceeding  three  years),  criminal  law,  death 
duties,  education  in  all  its  branches,  factories  and  work- 
shops, health  insurance,  hospitals,  housing",  industrial 
schools  and  reformatories,  industries,  labour,  labourers' 
cottages,  land  (including  land  improvement  and 
development,  relations  of  landlord  and  tenant,  increase 
of  rent  and  mortgage  interest,  town  tenants,  &c.), 
liquor  trade,  local  government  and  local  authorities 
(including  county  councils,  district  councils,  boards  of 
guardians  and  town  commissioners),  local  taxation 
grants  [under  the  Malicious  Injuries  (Ireland)  Act, 
1919],  mines  and  minerals,  motor  car  licensing  and 
registration,  old  age  pensions,  piers  and  harbours, 
police  (after  an  interval  not  exceeding  three  years), 
poor  law,  prisons,  public  health,  public  works  (including 
arterial  drainage,  reclamation,  and  afforestation), 
regulation  of  trades,  business  and  professions,  taxation 
(other  than  the  reserved  taxes),  transfer,  transmission 
and  devolution  of  property,  unemployment  and  wages 
boards. 

4,  POWERS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENTS.  All  matters 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Parliaments  of  Southern 
Ireland  and  Northern  Ireland  will  be  administered  by 
the  Governments  of  Southern  Ireland  and  Northern 
Ireland  respectively.  There  will  be  separate  Depart- 
ments in  Southern  and  Northern  Ireland.  It  will  rest 
finally  with  each  of  the  new  Governments  and  Parlia- 


APPENDIX  A.  435 

ments  to  decide  what  their  Government  Departments 
are  to  be ;  but  for  each  part  of  Ireland  there  will  be  a 
Treasury,  and,  in  all  probability.  Departments  with 
functions  corresponding  to  those  of  the  present  Local 
Government  Board,  Insurance  Commissioners,  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruction,  Com- 
missioners of  National  Education,  Intermediate  Educa- 
tion Board,  Board  of  Works,  and  Commissioners  of 
Charitable  Donations  and  Bequests.  Each  new  depart- 
ment, or  group  of  departments,  in  South  or  North  will 
have  at  its  head  a  Minister  of  the  Southern  or  Northern 
Government  who  will  be  responsible  to  the  Southern 
Parliament  or  the  Northern  Parliament,  as  the  case 
may  be,  for  the  work  of  his  departments.  Irish 
administration  will  thus  be  placed,  for  the  first  time, 
under  Irish  control.  Before  the  Act  of  Union,  even  in 
the  time  of  Grattan's  Parliament,  there  were  no  Irish 
Ministers.  Irish  administration  was  conducted  by 
Ministers  and  officials  who  were  appointed  and  removed 
by  the  British  Government.  They  were  not  responsible 
to  the  Irish  Parliament. 

5.  POWERS   OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF   IRELAND. ^lu  Order   tO 

secure  necessary  uniform  administration  throughout  the 
whole  of  Ireland  three  matters  are  placed  within  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  Council  of  Ireland,  viz., 
railways,  fisheries,  and  contagious  diseases  of  animals. 
Regarding  these  the  Council  will  act  as  a  central  legisla- 
tive and  administrative  body  for  the  whole  of  Ireland, 
and  if  the  two  Parliaments  agree  that  there  are  any 
other  matters  affecting  the  whole  country  which  ought 
proper^ly  to  be  administered  uniformly  throughout 
Ireland  by  such  a  body,  they  can  transfer  those  matters 
to  the  Council. 

In  addition  the  Council  will  have  power  to  pass 
private  Bill  legislation  with  respect  to  matters  affecting 
interests  both  in  Southern  and  Northern  Ireland, 

6.  FINANCE. — Only    three   descriptions   of    taxes   are 


436       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

excluded  from  the  powers  of  the  two  Parliaments,  viz., 
customs  and  excise,  income  tax  (including  super  tax), 
and  any  other  taxes  on  profits.  They  are  also  pre- 
cluded from  imposing  a  general  levy  on  capital.  Apart 
from  these  exceptions,  each  Parliament  will  have  power 
to  impose  whatever  taxes  it  thinks  proper,  to  be  collected 
by  it  and  paid  into  its  own  Exchequer.  It  will  also 
have  power  to  grant  relief  in  reduction  of  the  rate  of 
income  tax  or  super  tax.  The  descriptions  of  taxes 
mentioned  above  are  reserved  to  the  United  Kingdom 
Government  and  Parliament,  and  will  continue  to  be 
imposed  and  levied  by  them,  and  the  proceeds  will  be 
paid  into  the  United  Kingdom  Exchequer.  But  the 
Act  applies  Irish  taxes  to  Irish  purposes,  and  so,  after 
deducting  the  Irish  contribution  to  Imperial  liabilities 
and  expenditure,  and  the  cost  of  any  services  which 
may  be  still  administered  in  Ireland  by  the  United 
Kingdom  Government  (see  below),  the  whole  balance 
will  be  paid  over  to  the  Southern  and  Northern 
Exchequers. 

The  annuities  payable  by  tenants  who  have  bought 
their  holdings  under  the  Land  Purchase  Acts  are  to  be 
collected  by  the  Southern  and  Northern  Governments. 
Instead  of  having  to  pay  over  the  sums  so  collected,  the 
Governments  will  retain  them,  thus  acquiring  a  free 
surplus  revenue  (estimated  to  amount  to  something  over 
three  and  a  quarter  millions)  for  their  own  use.  They 
will,  however,  be  accountable  to  the  United  Kingdom 
Government  for  any  new  purchase  annuities. 

It  is  not  possible  to  forecast  accurately  the  amount 
of  revenue  that  will  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  two 
Parliaments  to  meet  the  requirements  of  their  respective 
Governments,  but  it  is  estimated  that  on  the  existing 
basis  of  Revenue  and  Expenditure  they  will  have 
between  them  a  surplus  of  over  seven  and  a  half  millions 
in  hand,  after  paying  the  contribution  to  Imperial 
liabilities  and  expenditure,  and  meeting  the  cost  of  the 


APPENDIX   A.  437 

reserved  services  still  administered  by  the  United  King- 
dom Government  and  the  cost  of  their  own  services. 

In  addition,  each  Government  is  to  receive  from  the 
Imperial  Exchequer  the  initial  cost  of  providing  the 
necessary  buildings  and  equipment  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  new  Parliament  and  Public  departments. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  financial  provisions  of  the 
Act  a  Joint  Exchequer  Board  is  established,  whose  duty 
it  will  be  to  determine  various  questions  affecting  the 
financial  relations  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  of 
Southern  Ireland  and  Northern  Ireland.  The  Board  is 
to  consist  of  two  members  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  Kingdom,  one  member  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Treasury  of  Southern  Ireland,  one 
member  to  be  appointed  by  the  Treasury  of  Northern 
Ireland,  and  a  Chairman  to  be  appointed  by  His 
Majesty. 

7.    IRISH    CONTEIBUTION    TO    IMPERIAL    LIABILITIES    AND 

EXPENDITURE. — Ireland  is  to  make  an  annual  contri- 
bution to  Imperial  liabilities  and  expenditure.  For 
each  of  the  first  two  years  the  contribution  is  fixed 
provisionally  at  £18,000,000,  of  which  56  per  cent,  is 
to  be  borne  by  Southern  Ireland  and  44  per  cent,  by 
Northern  Ireland.  After  the  end  of  the  second  year 
the  contributions  are  to  be  revised  by  the  Joint 
Exchequer  Board  and  to  be  fixed  according  to  the  rela- 
tive taxable  capacities  of  Southern  Ireland  and 
Northern  Ireland  and  the  United  Kingdom,  and,  should 
the  Board  be  of  opinion  that  the  £18,000,000  contri- 
buted in  each  of  the  first  two  years  was  excessive,  or 
that  the  amount  of  the  contribution  in  those  years  ought 
to  have  been  apportioned  between  South  and  North  in 
some  other  manner,  the  excess  payments  are  to  be 
credited  to  Ireland  or  to  South  or  North,  as  the  case  may 
be,  and  the  accounts  adjusted  accordingly. 

8.  JUDICATURE. — The  present  Supreme  Court  for  the 
whole  of  Ireland  is  to  be  abolished,  and  in  its  pilace 


438      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

there  is  to  be  a  Supreme  Court  for  Southern  Ireland,  a 
Supreme  Court  for  Northern  Ireland  and  a  High  Court 
of  Appeal  for  all  Ireland  to  which  appeals  will  lie  from 
each  of  the  new  Supreme  Courts.  Decisions  of  the  new 
High  Court  of  Appeal  for  Ireland  will  be  subject  to  an 
appeal  to  the  House  of  Lords.  The  office  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor  of  Ireland  is  to  cease  to  be  a  political  or 
executive  office,  and  the  Lord  Chancellor  is  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  High  Court  of  Appeal  for  Ireland. 

9.    MATTERS  EXCLUDED  FROM  THE  JURISDICTION  OF  THE 

PARLIAMENTS  AND  GOVERNMENTS. — Certain  subjects  are 
excluded  expressly  from  the  powers  of  the  two  Parlia- 
ments and  Governments.  They  fall  into  two  broad 
groups:  first,  matters  of  Imperial  concern;  and, 
secondly,  matters  affecting  external  trade  and  com- 
merce, as  regards  which  it  is  important  to  maintain  a 
uniform  system  throughout  the  United  Kingdom. 

Within  the  first  group  come  the  Crown,  the  making  of 
peace  and  war,  treaties  and  foreign  relations,  and  naval, 
military  and  air  force  matters. 

Within  the  second  group  come  trade  with  places  out- 
side the  area  of  the  Parliament,  marine  navigation, 
merchant  shipping,  &c.,  also  customs  and  excise;  but, 
on  Irish  union,  the  Joint  Exchequer  Board  is  to  take 
into  consideration  the  transfer  to  the  United  Parlia- 
ment and  Government  of  the  powers  of  imposing  cus- 
toms duties  and  excise  duties,  and  to  report  thereon  to 
the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Ireland. 

Certain  other  subjects  are  temporarily  reserved  to  the 
United  Kingdom  Parliament  and  Government,  viz., 
the  postal  service,  post  office  and  trustee  savings  banks, 
designs  for  stamps,  the  registration  of  deeds  and  the 
Public  Record  Office  of  Ireland.  All  these  subjects 
can,  however,  if  the  two  Parliaments  so  desire,  be 
transferred  at  any  time  to  the  Council  of  Ireland,  and 
when  a  single  Parliament  and  Government  is  established 


APPENDIX  A.  439 

for  the  whole  of  Ireland  these  subjects  must  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  United  Parliament  and  Government,  unless 
the  Southern  oV  Northern  Parliament  prefer  that  they 
should  continue  under  United  Kingdom  control. 

Land  purchase  is  also  reserved  to  the  United  King- 
dom Parliament  and  Government,  the  completion  of 
land  purchase  being  a  matter  which  requires  the  assis- 
tance of  Imperial  credit.  This  reservation  does  not, 
however,  include  the  general  functions  of  the  Congested 
Districts  Board. 

Matters  relating  to  the  Supreme  Courts  of  Southern 
Ireland  and  Northern  Ireland  are  reserved  until  a  singile 
Parliament  has  been  established  for  the  whole  of 
Ireland. 

9  A.  REMOVAL  OF  RELIGIOUS  DISABILITIES  AND  PRE- 
VENTION OF  RELIGIOUS  DISCRIMINATION. — The  Act  pro- 
vides that  no  subject  of  His  Majesty  is  to  be  disqualified 
to  hold  the  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  on 
account  of  his  religious  belief,  thus  repealing  any 
statutory  disqualification  of  Roman  Catholics  for  this 
office.  It  also  repeals  any  existing  enactments  imposing 
penalties,  disadvantages  or  disabilities  on  account  of 
religious  belief,  or  upon  members  of  religious  orders, 
as  such. 

The  Parliaments  are  precluded  from  making  laws 
directly  or  indirectly  prohibiting  or  restricting  the  free 
exercise  of  any  religion,  or  giving  any  preference  or 
imposing  any  disability  on  account  of  religious  belief 
or  religious  or  ecclesiastical  status,  and,  similarly,  the 
executive  is  precluded  from  conferring  any  preference 
or  advantage  or  imposing  any  disability  or  disadvantage 
upon  any  person  on  account  of  religious  belief. 

10.  REPRESENTATION  OF  IRELAND  IN  THE  UNITED  KING- 
DOM HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. — The  present  representation  of 
Ireland  in  the  United  Kingdom  House  of  Commons  is 
to  be  reduced  from  105  members  to  46,  but  this  reduc- 
tion is  not  to  be  effected  before  the  next  dissolution  of 


440      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

the  United  Kingdom  Parliament.  This  gives  Irishmen 
the  power  to  take  part  in  legislation  affecting  the  United 
Kingdom  as  well  as  managing  their  own  affairs  under 
the  new  Act. 

11.    CIVIL     SERVANTS     AND     MEMBERS     OF     THE     POLICE 

FORCES. — The  Civil  Servants  who  are  employed  in  the 
existing  public  departments  will  be  transferred  to  the 
Governments  of  Southern  and  Northern  Ireland  when 
the  work  of  the  existing  departments  is  taken  over  by 
those  Governments,  and  the  Act  contains  provisions  for 
securing  to  these  transferred  Civil  Servants  the  continu- 
ance of  their  present  salaries  and  terms  of  employment, 
and  for  protecting  them  against  arbitary  dismissal  or 
unjust  treatment  and  enabling  them  to  retire  volun- 
tarily on  pension  if  they  so  desire.  A  Civil  Service 
Committee  is  to  be  established  to  carry  out  these  pro- 
visions and  to  determine  any  questions  that  may  arise 
as  to  the  rights  and  claims  of  Civil  Servants  and  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  they  are  to  be  allocated  between 
the  Governments  of  Southern  and  Northern  Ireland. 
The  Act  contains  provisions  of  a  similar  character 
with  reference  to  the  members  of  the  Royal  Irish  Con- 
stabulary and  the  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police  on  the 
transfer  of  those  forces  to  the  new  Governments. 

12.  DATES  ON  WHICH  THE  ACT  IS   TO   COME  INTO   FORCE. 

— The  Act  is  to  come  into  force  normally  on  the  2nd 
August,  1921,  but  His  Majesty  in  Council  may  fix  an 
earlier  date  as  the  date  when  the  Act  as  a  whole  or  any 
particular  provision  is  to  come  into  force  or  may  fix  a 
later  date,  not  being  later  than  the  2nd  March,  1922, 
provided  that  the  two  Parliaments  must  be  summoned 
to  meet  on  or  before  the  2nd  December,  1921. 

13.  REFUSAL  TO  "  WORK  THE  ACT." — The  members  of 
each  Parliament  before  they  sit  as  members  will  be 
required  to  take  an  oath  in  the  following  form,  but  a 
solemn  affirmation  or  declaration  to  the  same  effect  may 
be  substituted  in  certain  cases,  viz.  :  — 


APPENDIX   A.  441 

"  I        ,  do  swear  that  I  will  be 

faithful  and  bear  true  allegiajice  to  His  Majesty  King 

George,  his  heirs  and  successors  according  to  law,  so 

help  me  God." 

This  is  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  must  be  taken 
not  only  by  the  members  of  the  Parliament  of  the 
United  Kingdom  but  also  by  the  members  of  the  Parlia- 
ments of  the  self-governing  dominions,  Australia,  South 
Africa,  and  Newfoundland.  A  similar  oath  is  taken  by 
the  members  of  the  Parliaments  of  Canada  and  New 
Zealand. 

If  a  majority  of  the  total  number  of  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  of  Southern  Ireland  or  Northern 
Ireland  fail  to  take  this  oath  within  fourteen  days 
after  the  date  fixed  for  the  first  meeting  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Southern  Ireland  or  Northern  Ireland  as  the 
case  may  be,  then  it  will  be  assumed  that  Southern 
Ireland  or  Northern  Ireland  is  not  willing  to  accept  the 
system  of  Parliamentary  Government  proposed  by  the 
Act,  and  thereupon  the  Parliament  of  Southern  Ireland 
or  Northern  Ireland  as  the  case  may  be  will  be  dissolved 
and  its  place  will  be  taken  by  a  Legislative  Assembly 
appointed  by  His  Majesty,  and  the  Government  of 
Southern  Ireland  or  Northern  Ireland  as  the  case  may 
be  will  be  administered  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant  with 
the  assistance  of  a  Committee  of  members  of  the  Privy 
Council  of  Ireland  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  His 
Majesty. 

The  failure  of  one  part  of  Ireland  will  not  affect  the 
operation  of  the  Act  in  the  other  part  of  Ireland  except 
in  80  far  as  it  will  postpone  the  possibility  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  united  Parliament  and  Government  for 
the  whole  of  Ireland, 

It  will  therefore  be  for  Irishmen  themselves  to  decide 
in  the  near  future  whether  they  will  themselves  take  up 
the  reins  of  Government  in  their  own  country  or  be 
ruled  by  the  Government  of  the  United  Kingdom  under 
a  system  analogous  to  Crown  Colony  Government. 


APPENDIX    B. 

On  16th  November,  1920,  during  a  raid  by  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown  in  Dublin,  a  number  of 
papers  belonging  to  Richard  Mulcahy,  the 
*  Chief  of  Staff  '  of  the  *  Irish  Republican 
Army  '  were  captured.  The  following  docu- 
ments were  among  them  : — 

GLANDERS    IN    HORSES. 

"  It  should  be  possible  to  give  horses  Glanders,  I 
know  they  can  be  inoculated,  but  that  method  would 
be  impossible.  The  disease  is  got  from  Harness  and  by 
putting  a  horse  in  a  stable  from  which  an  infected  horse 
had  been  removed.  Therefore,  it  should  be  possible  to 
pass  the  infection  by  means  of  doctoring  the  oats,  and 
it  should  be  possible  to  get  the  oats  at  Railway  Stations 
and  so  forth. 

"  METHOD  :  Any  Doctor  or  V.  Surgeon  will  be  able 
to  tell  you  how  to  grow  the  microbes.  If  they  don't 
know  they  can  look  it  up  in  any  text  book  on 
Bacteriology.  It  is  necessary  to  get  a  fresh  culture, 
that  is,  microbes  grown  from  the  discharge  of  an  in- 
fected horse.  This  should  be  easily  got  round  the 
Veterinary  College  or  some  place.  Microbes  kept  in  a 
Laboratory  lose  their  virulence  with  each  sub-culture. 
If  you  get  the  microbes  they  can  be  grown  in  a  chicken 
incubator  if  you  can't  get  them  grown  in  a  laboratory. 
Any  Doctor  can  find  out  the  medium  in  which  they 
grow.  Assume  you  have  half  a  pint  of  active  microbes, 
then :  take  a  hollow  stick  or  piece  of  piping.  Get 
another  stick  to  fit  in  this  like  a  ramrod  of  a  gun.     Put 


APPENDIX   B.  443 

this  stick  down  in  the  sack  of  oats.  Withdraw  the  ram- 
rod. Then  pour  in  the  microbes  while  you,  at  the  same 
time,  withdraw  the  hollow  stick  or  piping.  In  this 
way  you  can  distribute  the  microbes  from  the  bottom 
of  the  sack  to  the  top  without  disturbing  the  oats,  and 
it  can  be  done  quickly. 

**  CAUTION:  Operator  must  not  allow  any  of  the 
fluid  on  his  hands  or  clothes.  The  stick  and  bottle 
should  be  burned  after  use. 

"A  couple  of  thousand  horses  infected  would  make 
a  sensation.  Saddles,  etc.  would  have  to  be  burned^ 
and  stables  disinfected. 

"  TROOPS  THEMSELVES:  How  about  spreading 
Typhoid  Fever  among  themP  I  know 'of  no  other 
ordinary  disease  that  could  be  spread  among  them  with 
safety  to  the  rest  of  the  population.  They  might 
retaliate,  but  that  is  for  consideration, 

"  To  get  Typhoid  Fever  one  must  eat  or  drink  the 
Typhoid  Bacillus  (or  microbe).  It  is  easy  getting  fresh 
and  virulent  cultures.  The  best  medium  of  conveying 
it  is  through  the  milk.  They  multiply  rapidly  in  the 
milk.  They  can  also  be  conveyed  in  the  water,  but 
through  the  water  is  difi&cult,  unless  there  are  special 
cisterns  or  tanks  near  each  place  into  which  a  pint  or 
so  could  be  poured. 

The  milk  is  far  the  best  medium,  but  is  milk  usedP 
It  can  be  investigated. 

*'  CAUTION:  There  is  no  danger  to  the  operator 
unless  he  gets  the  microbes  on  hands  or  clothes.  The 
Cans  would  have  to  get  special  attention  after  the  in- 
fected milk  had  been  emptied.  They  could,  in  turn, 
convey  the  disease  to  the  civil  population.  If  these 
id^s  are  of  any  use  you  will  need  expert  advice,  so  I 
need  not  go  into  the  matter  further. 

"  If  these  are  thought  practical  let  me  know  and  I'll 
study  other  things  on  same  line  in  the  hope  of  discover- 


444       ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

ing'  possibilities.     At  tlie  moment  I  can't  think  of  any- 
thing else  in  that  line. 

"  Give  my  regards  to  all  and  hope  the  success  will 
continue.  I  enjoyed  my  visit,  and  will  now  feel  in 
personal  touch  more  than  ever.     God  bless  you  all." 

There  were  also  detailed  schemes  for  the 
destruction  of  Stuart  Street  Power  House,  Man- 
chester, and  the  docks  and  cotton  warehouses  at 
Liverpool.  An  extract  from  the  document  deal- 
ing with  Manchester  is  as  follows  : — 

MEMORANDUM  RE  STUART  STREET  POWER 
HOUSE,  MANCHESTER. 

"  This  place  is  worked  by  three  shifts,  namely,  6  to 
2 ;  2  to  10,  and  10  to  6.  The  best  day  for  an  operation 
would  be  Sunday,  say  about  9  a.m.  as  there  is  a  mini- 
mum number  of  men  working  in  the  station.  This  place 
is  undoubtedly  of  great  importance  not  only  in 
connection  with  the  tramways,  but  also  with  the  coal 
mines  in  the  vicinity.  I  attach  herewith  a  sketch  plan 
(not  drawn  to  scale)  showing  the  lay-out  of  the  place. 
The  principal  points  to  be  attacked  are  10  Turbines  in 
the  Engine  Room,  10  Balancers,  the  Switch  Board  and 
the  Large  Marine  Type  Engine. 

"  The  plan  of  operation  would  be  somewhat  as 
follows :  — 

"  At  the  appointed  time  6  men  enter  the  time  office, 
of  whom  3  should  immediately  go  to  the  telephone  and 
hold  up  the  system,  while  the  other  3  should  remain  in 
the  office  and  hold  up  any  person  who  may  happen  to  be 
there.  A  second  party  of  6  should  enter  the  ^te 
marked  A ;  3  of  these  6  should  remain  at  the  gate  to 
admit  the  motor  car  carrying  tools,  and  the  other  3 
should  go  to  fitting  shop  and  take  up  position  at  gate  of 


APPENDIX   B.  445 

same,  this  shop  to  be  used  as  a  place  to  hold  any  persons 
who  were  rounded  up  inside  the  works.  The  third  party 
of  6  should  be  divided  as  follows :  — 2  to  take  up  position 
at  the  door  of  the  general  ofl&ce  to  keep  persons  from 
coming  out,  2  at  the  outside  of  gate  marked  B  for  the 
same  purpose,  and  2  at  the  end  of  the  line  marked  L. 
The  demolition  party  should  then  enter  the  main  gate, 
30  men  to  the  Engine  room,  3  for  each  Turbine,  2  armed 
with  sledges  and  1  with  oil  and  waste.  The  first  2 
should  destroy  the  casing  while  the  third  should,  by 
means  of  the  oil,  set  fire  to  the  casing.  Ten  others 
should  destroy  the  casing  of  the  balancers  and  also 
destroy  by  fire.  Four  men  armed  with  7-lb.  hammers 
can  easily  destroy  Switchboard,  3  others  with  hatchets 
and  oil  will  attack  the  marine  engine.  The  total  num- 
ber of  men  required  as  outlined  above  is  66  with  say,  5 
oflScers.  You  will  find  attached  a  report  by  G.  H. 
which  explains  the  location  of  the  very  important 
pumping  stations  at  Clayton  Vale.  I  consider  the  best 
method  of  attacking  this  is  to  destroy  the  Crank,  for 
which  purpose  30-lbs.  of  *  g.c.  '  will  be  adequate.  Six 
men  will  be  required  for  this  operation." 

The  Liverpool  scheme  is  interesting  because  a 
part  of  it,  the  destruction  of  cotton  warehouses, 
was  actually  put  into  operation  with  partial 
success  on  28th  November,  1920. 

MEMORANDUM  RE  LIVERPOOL. 

"  In  its  main  features,  the  scheme  as  outlined  by 
your  friend  T.  K.  can  be  carried  out.  It  will  of  course 
be  impossible  to  make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  whole  line  of 
docks.  If  men  and  material  are  available  a  large 
amount  of  work  can  be  done  but  the  amount  to  be  done 
must   be   regulated   by   these   conditions.     I    submit   a 


446      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

scheme  for  dealing  with  21   points.     This  scheme   in- 
volves the  use  of  800-lbs.  of  '  g",'  23  engineers,  75  rank 
and  file  and  about  20  others,  98  revolvers. 
'*  The  scheme  is  carried  out  as  follows:  — 

1.  Dislocation  of  Telephone  communication. 

2.  Holding  up  all  Dock  Board  Police. 

3.  The  opening  of   inner   gates   by  means  of  the 
pumps. 

4.  Demolition  of  these  pumps,  4  in  number. 

5.  Demolition  of  8  gates. 

"  The  pumps  used  for  opening  the  gates  are  a 
different  set  to  those  used  for  pumping  water  into  the 
docks.  It  is  necessary  to  open  the  inner  gates  before 
blowing  up  the  outer  and  for  this  operation  it  would  be 
necessary  to  use  these  pumps  in  addition  to  having  men 
operating  at  the  inner  gates. 

"  There  are  four  Power  Stations  containing  pumps 
for  the  opening  of  the  gates.  These  pumps  could  be 
destroyed  by  the  use  of  200-lbs.  of  *  g,'  4  engineers,  20 
rank  and  file  and  24  revolvers. 

"  For  the  whole  job  as  outlined  I  estimate  the  total 
number  of  men  required  is  23  ofiicers,  27  engineers  and 
75  rank  and  file.  It  would,  I  think,  be  necessary  for  the 
officers,  or  many  of  them,  to  reside  in  the  locality  for 
at  least  one  week  before  the  operation  and  to  complete 
the  arrangements  as  outlined  above,  I  consider  it  would 
take  three  weeks  from  date. 

"  If  it  is  not  considered  feasible  to  carry  out  such  a 
large  operation  as  outlined,  a  portion  might  be  selected 
from  the  Schedule  attached  hereto  which  gives  in  detail 
the  name  of  each  gate,  method  of  dealing  with  it,  num- 
ber of  men  required,  number  of  enemy  forces  to  be 
dealt  with  and  the  line  of  approach  and  retreat.  For 
instance,  it  might  be  decided  to  tackle  only  the  Canada 
Dock.  This  would  only  require  100-lbs.  of  *  g,'  say  10 
men,  or  perhaps  two  or  three  docks  might  be  tackled 
requiring  a  proportionate  number  of  men  and  material, 


APPENDIX   B.  447 

but  in  any  event  I  would  strongly  recommend  that  the 
four  power  stations  be  dealt  with. 

**  I  adhere  to  the  view  already  expressed  that  the 
Mowing  up  of  a  dock  gate  will  not  result  in  a  rush  of 
water  sufficient  to  carry  any  large  ship  into  the  river. 
The  most  that  can  be  expected  from  such  an  operation 
is  that  a  boat  would  lie  down  and  be  seriously  damaged. 

'*  The. diversions  suggested  would  consist  of  numerous 
fires  in  cotton  and  other  warehouses,  starting  half  an 
hour  before  other  operations." 

The  scheme  in  detail  follows. 


APPENDIX    C. 

A  statement  issued  to  the  Press  by  the  Irish 
Government  on  the  20th  April,  1920,  defining 
the  status  of,  and  treatment  to  be  accorded  to, 
those  prisoners  in  Mountjoy  Prison,  Dublin,  then 
awaiting  trial,  charged  under  the  Defence  of 
the  Realm  Regulations,  Reg.  14b.    (See  page  84). 

The  Irish  Government  think  it  right  to  at  once  define 
and  make  public  the  treatment  to  which  persons  arrested 
and  imprisoned  will  in  future  be  entitled  when  in 
custody. 

The  following  provisions  have  accordingly  been  made,, 
and  will  be  adhered  to. 

The  general  principle  which  has  been  adopted,  and 
which  is  now  enunciated  in  detail,  is,  that  persons 
arrested  and  imprisoned  for  politicail  offences  shall  be 
treated  as  political  prisoners,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  be 
differently  treated,  both  as  regards  place  of  confinement 
and  treatment  therein,  to  persons  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned for  ordinary  criminal  offences. 

It  is  also  thought  desirable,  in  order  to  avoid  possible 
future  misconception,  to  state  that  the  following  offences 
shall  not  be  deemed  to  be  political  offences,  even  though 
the  motive  for  such  offences  may  be,  or  may  be  alleged 
to  be,  a  political  motive:  — 

(a)  Homicide,     assaults,     or     similar     offencee, 

against  the  person. 

(b)  Burglary,  housebreaking,  larceny,  malicious 

damage,    cattle-driving,    or   similar   offences 
against  property. 

(c)  Riot;  carrying,  keeping,  or  having  firearms, 

ammunition  or  explosive  substances;  unlaw- 


APPENDIX   C.  449 

ful  assembly  (as  defined  by  Common  Law  or 
by  Statute,  but  not  by  an  assembly  rendered 
unlawful  merely  because  it  is  a  meeting  of  a 
political  or  suppressed  association) ;  speaking 
or   writing   words    inciting   or   encouraging 
persons  to  commit  any  of  the  offences  set  out 
at  (a),  (b),  or  (c). 
All    persons    committed    to    prison    for    a    political 
offence,  who  have  not  been  tried,  shall  from  the  time 
of  their  commitment  be  granted  the  special  ameliora- 
tive treatment  set  out  in  Schedule  A  annexed  hereto. 

As  soon  as  arrangements  can  be  made,  after  a  person 
is  committed  to  prison  for  a  political  offence,  he  shall  be 
detained  in  a  place  of  confinement  in  which  ordinary 
criminals  are  not  detained,  and  shall,  on  reception  into 
such  a  place,  be  entitled,  in  addition  to  the  ameliora- 
tions in  Schedule  A,  to  the  further  ameliorations  set  out 
in  Schedule  B. 

Prisoners  bound  over  to  keep  the  peace  and  be  of  good 
behaviour,  and  who  have  been  committed  to  prison  in 
default  of  giving  sureties,  shall  be  dealt  with  as 
prisoners  who  have  not  been  tried,  and  if  the  offence 
disclosed  in  the  warrant  is  a  political  offence,  shall 
receive  the  treatment  of  a  political  prisoner  who  has  not 
been  tried,  and  if  the  offence  disclosed  in  the  warrant 
is  not  a  political  offence,  shall  receive  the  treatment  of 
an  ordinary  untried  prisoner. 

Prisoners  who  have  been  tried  for  a  political  offence 
before  any  Court,  and  have  been  convicted,  shall,  unless 
sentenced  to  penal  servitude,  undergo  their  imprison- 
ment in  a  place  in  which  ordinary  criminal  prisoners 
are  not  detained  for  punishment.  They  shall  be  en- 
titled to  the  ameliorative  treatment  of  untried  politicail 
prisoners  as  set  out  in  Schedule  A  and  B,  except  that 
they :  — 

(i)  Shall  not  be  permitted  freedom  of  movement 
within  the  precincts  of  the  prison,  or  association  or 

DD 


460      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

conversation  between  prisoners,  save  at  such  limited 
times  during  each  as  the  Governor  sh^ll  consider 
reasonable. 

(ii)  Shall  not  be  entitled  to  more  than  one  visit 
per  week  from  one  person. 

(iii)  Shall  only  be  entitled  to  write  and  receive 
one  letter  per  week,  except  under  such  special  cir- 
cumstances as  the  Governor  and  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee shall  consider  reasonable. 

The  special  treatment  for  political  prisoners  set  out 
above  is  conditional  upon  an  orderly  submission  to  the 
rules  and  regulations  prescribed  for  such  prisoners. 
Should  any  such  prisoner  refuse  to  carry  out  such  rules 
and  regulations  he  shall  be  liable  to  forfeit  any  or  all  of 
the  ameliorations,  and  may  be  removed  to  a  different 
prison. 

If  a  prisoner  who  when  first  committed  to  prison  is 
entitled  to  the  treatment  of  a  political  prisoner  should 
be  subsequently  charged  with  an  offence  which  is  not 
political,  he  shall  be  entitled  to  treatment  as  a  political 
prisoner  until  such  time  as  he  shall  be  returned  for 
trial  or  tried.  If  convicted  of  such  non-political  offence 
he  shall  lose  his  right  to  the  ameliorative  treatment, 
and  shall  thereafter  be  treated  as  an  ordinary  prisoner. 
If  a  prisoner  is  comm.itted  to  prison  pending  trial  for 
an  offence  which  in  the  opinion  of  the  Irish  Law  Officers 
is  a  non-political  offence,  and  the  prisoner  claims  that 
the  offence  is  a  political  one,  and  that  he  is,  therefore, 
entitled  to  political  treatment,  the  question  shall  be  at 
once  referred  for  decision  in  accordance  with  the  rules 
hereinbefore  set  forth  to  a  Committee  of  three  composed 
as  follows :  — 

One  member  of  the  Visiting  Committee  of  the  prison 
where  the  prisoner  is  confined  to  be  nominated  by  the 
prisoner ; 

One  member  of  the  same  Visiting  Committee  to  be 
nominated  by  the  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  or  in  hia 


APPENDIX   C.  451 

absence  by  the  Under-Secretary  for  Ireland; 

The  Committee  to  be  presided  over  by  one  of  His 
Majesty's  Judges. 

The  names  of  three  Judges  who  will  be  willing  to 
act  being  pilaced  on  a  rota  and  taken  in  turn.  If  one 
Judge  is  unable  to  act  in  any  particular  case,  the  Judge 
next  on  the  list  to  act  in  such  case.  Should  the  prisoner 
decline  to  nominate  a  member  of  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee to  act  on  such  special  Committee,  the  members 
of  the  Visiting  Committee  will  themseilves  nominate  one 
of  their  number  so  to  act.  Should  the  member  of  any 
Visiting  Committee  so  nominated  or  both  of  them  be 
unable  or  decline  to  act  a  second  nomination  shall  be 
made  by  the  person  entitled.  Should  all  the  members 
of  any  Visiting  Committee  deciline  or  be  unable  to  act, 
the  question  shall  be  referred  to  the  Judge  alone  for 
his  decision. 

In  addition  to  the  Visiting  Judges  appointed  to  visit 
prisons  under  the  Prisons  (Ireland)  Act,  1877,  his 
Excellency  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  as  regards 
the  special  prisons  and  places  of  confinement  men- 
tioned herein  in  which  p6liticail  prisoners  tried  and 
untried  will  be  confined,  will  request  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  Protestant  Bishops  of  the  Dioceses  in  which 
such  selected  prisoners  are  situated  to  act  as  special 
visitors  to  such  prisons  and  places  of  confinement,  and 
to  report  on  any  matter  which  they  may  think  right  to 
report  upon  to  his  Excellency. 

SCHEDULE    A 

(i)  Shall  be  kept  apart  from  other  classes  of  prisoners. 

(ii)  Shall  be  exempted  from  a  bath  on  reception. 

(iii)  Shall  be  searched  only  by  an  ofl&cer  specially 
appointed  for  that  purpose. 

(iv)  Shall  be  allowed  to  occupy  a  room  or  cell 
furnished  with  suitable  bedding  and  other  articles,  in 
addition  to,  or  different  from  those  furnished  for 
ordinary  cells. 


452      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

(v)  Shall  be  allowed  at  own  cost  the  assistance  of  some 
person  appointed  by  the  Governor  to  relieve  the  pri- 
soner from  the  performance  of  any  unaccustomed  tasks 
or  offices, 

(vi)  Shall  be  allowed  unconvicted  prisoners'  diet,  or 
to  supply  at  own  cost,  own  food,  subject  to  the  under- 
mentioned restrictions  as  to  supply  :  — 

Due  notice  to  be  given  beforehand. 

Food  to  be  received  only  at  such  times  as  are  fixed 
for  that  purpose,  and  to  be  inspected,  if  considered 
necessary  by  the  officers  of  the  prison. 

Not  to  receive  or  purchase  during  the  24  hours  more 
than  one  pint  of  malt  liquor,  fermented  liquor,  cider, 
or  wine. 

(vii)  Shall  be  entitled  to  wear  own  clothes. 

(viii)  Shall  be  exempted,  if  desired,  from  hair- 
cutting  and  shaving. 

(ix)  Shall  be  allowed,  at  own  expense,  to  have  sup- 
plied such  books,  newspapers,  or  other  means  of  occu- 
pation other  than  those  furnished  by  the  prison,  as  are 
not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Governor,  of  an  objectionable 
kind. 

(x)  Shall  be  exempted  from  obligation  to  work. 

(xi)  Shall  be  allowed  to  write  one  letter  daily  to 
relations  or  friends,  and  to  receive  one  letter  daily,  and 
to  write  and  receive  such  additional  letters  for  special 
reasons  as  the  Visiting  Committee  shall  approve. 

(xii)  Shall  be  permitted  to  smoke,  unless  forbidden 
by  the  medical  officer  on  medical  grounds. 

SCHEDULE  B. 

(i)  Freedom  and  movement  within  the  precincts,  and 
association  and  conversation  between  prisoners  between 
the  hours  of  9  a.m.  and  6  p.m.  subject  to  orderly 
behaviour. 

(ii)  Two  visits  a  week  by  one  person  on  each  occasion 
will  be  allowed. 


APPENDIX   D. 

SINN    FEIN.* 

SCHEME   OF   OEGANISATION,    RULES,    &C. 


The  Sinn  Fein  Organisation  shall  include  a  President, 
two  Vice-Presidents,  two  Hon.  Secretaries,  two  Hon. 
Treasurers,  four  National  Trustees,  an  annual  Ard- 
Fheis,  an  Ard-Chomhairle  (with  its  standing  Commit- 
tee), Comhairli  Ceanntair  and  Cumainn. 

Membership  shall  be  open  to  all  adults  of  Irish  birth 
and  parentage,  irrespective  of  sex,  class,  or  creed,  who 
accept  the  Constitution  of  Sinn  Fein — save  that  no 
member  of  the  British  armed  forces,  nor  pensioner 
thereof,  nor  any  person  who  has  taken  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  British  Government,  shall  be  eligible 
so  long  as  he  retains  the  office  or  position  involving  that 
oath. 

All  elections  throughout  the  Organisation  shall  be  by 
baillot,  and  all  positions  specified  in  these  Regulations 
shall  be  honorary. 

No  person  shall  be  eligible  to,  or  competent  to  hold, 
the  .same  honorary  office  in  any  Cumann  or  Comhairle  of 
the  Organisation,  after  the  Ard-Fheis  of  1917,  for  more 
than  two  consecutive  years. 

ARD-FHEIS. 

1.  The  supreme  Governing  and  Legislative  Body 
shall  be  the  Ard-Fheis,  which  shall  be  convened  yearly, 
and  shall  consist  of  :  — 

•  This  is  an  exact  reprint  of  the  pamphlet  mentioned  on  page  389. 


454      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

(a)  The    President,    Vice-Presidents,    Secretaries, 

Treasurers,    and   Standing   Committee   of   the 
Ard-Chomhairle. 

(b)  One  delegate  from  each  Comhairle  Ceanntair, 

(c)  Two     delegates     from     each     duly     aMiated 

Cumann. 

Cumainn  having  a  paid-up  membership  of  150  shall 
be  entitled  to  three  delegates;  200  to  four,  and  260  to 
five,  on  payment  of  £1  in  addition  to  the  affiliation  fee 
for  each  delegate  above  two,  but  in  no  case  may  any 
Cumainn  have  more  than  five  delegates. 

Members  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle  (other  than  its 
Standing  Committee)  and  members  of  the  Daiil  Eireann 
(Constituent  Assembly  or  National  Parliament)  who 
have  not  been  chosen  as  delegates  from  their  own  clubs 
or  Comhairli  Ceanntair  shall  be  entitled  to  be  present 
at  the  Ard-Fheis  and  to  speak,  but  shall  not  have  a  vote. 

2.  The  jylace  and  date  of  meeting  of  the  Annual  Ard- 
Fheis,  as  well  as  rules  governing  its  procedure,  shall  be 
at  the  discretion  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle,  and  shall  be 
announced  two  months  in  advance.  Clubs  must  be 
affiliated  at  least  three  months  prior  to  Convention ; 
delegates  chosen,  and  their  names  forwarded  to  Head- 
quarters at  least  five  weeks  prior  to  the  date  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  Ard-Fheis. 

Nominations  for  the  Ard-Chomhairle  and  Resolutions 
for  the  Ard-Fheis  must  also  be  received  five  weeks  in 
advance. 

Cards  of  admission  and  copies  of  the  Ard-Fheis 
Agenda  (inc'luding  reports  of  officers,  balance  sheet,  and 
list  of  nominees  for  the  Ard-Chomhairle,  Presidency, 
etc.),  must  be  forwarded  to  delegates  at  least  nine  days 
in  advance. 

3.  An  Extraordinary  Ard-Fheis  may  be  summoned 
for  a  special  purpose  on  a  requisition  endorsed  by 
either :  — 

(a)  The  Standing  Committee,  unanimously ; 


APPENDIX  D.  455 

(b)  Two-thirds  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle ; 

(c)  Ten  Comhairii  Ceanntair ; 

(d)  200  Cumainn  of  at  least  six  months  standing. 
The  Standing  Committee  in  such  cases  shall  have 

discretionary  power  either  to  summon  the  delegates 
chosen  for  the  previous  Ard  Fheis,  or  to  direct  all 
Cumainn  of  three  months  standing  to  choose  delegates 
anew. 

At  least  one  clear  week's  notice  must  be  given  to 
deilegates. 

4.  Delegates  to  an  Ard-Fheis  must  be  bona-fide  resi- 
dent members  of  at  least  three  months'  standing  in  the 
Cumainn  they  are  to  represent. 

The  delegate  chosen  by  a  Comhairile  Ceanntair  must 
be  a  member  of  that  body. 

Substitutes  for  delegates  incapacitated  by  illness,  etc., 
may  be  aillowed  at  the  discretion  of  the  Standing 
Committee — but  they  must  in  all  cases  be  previously 
chosen  at  a  duly  convened  meeting  of  their  Cumainn  or 
Chomhairle  Ceanntair. 

6.  Resolutions  for  the  Ard-Fheis  must  stand  in  the 
names  of  either :  — 

(a)  The  Standing  Committee; 

(b)  The  Ard-Chomhairle; 

(c)  A  Cumann; 

(d)  A  member  of  the  Standing  Committee, 

In  cases  (a)  (b)  the  resolution  must  be  passed 
UNANIMOUSLY  at  a  meeting  of  these  bodies  duly 
summoned  with  adequate  notice  of  the  motion  given. 

Cumainn  alone  shall  have  power  to  nominate 
candidates  for  the  Board  of  Ofl&cers  or  for  membership 
of  the  Ard-Chomhairle. 

6.  The  aims  of  Sinn  Fein  as  set  forth  in  the 
**  Constitution  "  may  not  be  altered  or  amended  except 
by  a  two-third  vote  at  an  Ard-Fheis,  on  the  Agenda  of 
which  notice  of  the  proposed  alteration  or  amendment 
has  duly  appeared. 


456      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

AHi  other  changes  may  be  made  by  an  Ard-Fheis  on 
the  usual  majority  vote,  and  shall  take  immediate 
effect  if  the  Ard-Fheis  so  desire. 

ARD-CHOMHAIRLE. 

1.   The  Ard-Chomhairle  shall  consist  of  :  — 

(a)  Officers'  Board,  viz.  :  The  President,  two  Vice- 

Presidents,  two  Hon.  Secretaries  and  two  Hon. 
Treasurers ; 

(b)  Twenty-four  members,  of  whom  at  least  twelve 
must  be  ready  to  attend  weekly  meetings  in 

DUBLIN  ; 

(c)  One      representative       from      each      of       the 

Parliamentary  Divisions  in  which  there  are 
at  least  five  affiliated  Clubs,  and  one  from  each 
Parliamentary  Division  of  a  Borough  in  which 
there  is  a  membership  of  at  least  300 ;  in  the 
case  of  a  double-member  constituency  two 
representatives  to  be  chosen,  if  there  be  at  least 
600  members. 

(d)  Not  more  than  twenty  co-opted  members, 
power  of  cooption  being  at  the  discretion  of 
the  Ard-Chomhairle,  but  no  member  to  be 
co-opted  on  less  than  a  two-third  vote  of  the 
entire  Ard-Chomhairle. 

Nominations  for  (a)  and  (b)  and  for  (c)  lie  with  the 
Cumainn  only. 

Elections  for  (a)  (b)  are  to  be  by  ballot  at  the  annual 
Ard-Fheis,  and  for  (c)  by  ballot  of  the  Comdala 
Ceanntair  to  be  he^ld  in  each  constituency  within  one 
month  after  the  Annual  Ard-Fheis. 

Unless  elected  in  classes  (a),  (b),  (c)  and  (d)  the 
National  Trustees  shall  be  ex-officio  members  of  the 
Ard-Chomhairle  without  a  vote. 

No  member  shall  be  eligible  for  nomination  on  the 
Ard-Chomhairle  unless  he  has  been  at  least  six  months 
a  member  of  a  Cumann. 


APPENDIX   D.  457 

2.  When  the  Ard-Fheis  is  not  in  session  the  supreme 
direction  and  government  of  the  organisation  shall 
reside  in  the  Ard-Chomhairle,  which  shall  have  plenary 
powers  except  as  regards  changes  in  the  Constitution 
(which  are  altogether  ultra  vires).  Modifications  or 
amendments  of  other  decisions  affirmed  at  an  Ard-Fheis 
can  be  affected  by  the  Ard-Chomhairle  only  on  a  two- 
third  vote  at  an  ordinary  meeting  after  due  notice  of  the 
intended  alteration  has  been  given  to  all  its  members. 

The  Ard-Chomhairle  shall  have  power  to  make  rules, 
bye-laws,  etc.,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution. 

3.  Between  five  and  seven  weeks  after  the  Annual 
Ard-Fheis  the  first  meeting  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle 
shall  be  summoned.  It  shall  thereat  appoint  from 
amongst  its  members  directors  of  the  several  depart- 
ments into  which  it  decides  to  sub-divide  its  activities. 
These  directors  (who  must  all  be  prepared  to  attend 
weekly  meetings  in  Dublin)  shall,  with  the  "  Officer 
Board,"  form  a  Standing  Committee,  to  which  the 
Ard-Chomhairle  will  be  at  liberty  to  delegate  such 
powers,  functions  and  duties  as  it  may  deem  expedient. 

Until  the  constituency  representatives  have  been 
elected  and  the  first  meeting  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle 
held,  the  Officer  Board  and  the  twenty-four  members 
elected  by  the  Ard-Fheis  shall  exercise  the  functions  of 
the  Standing  Committee. 

4.  Members  of  the  Standing  Committee  who  shall 
absent  themselves  without  satisfactory  reasons  from 
four  consecutive  meetings  shall  be  deemed  to  have 
vacated  their  seats. 

A  seat  or  office  on  the  Ard-Chomhairle  rendered 
casually  vacant  by  any  cause  shall  be  filled  or  not  at 
the  discretion  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle,  which  shall  also 
have  power  to  direct  in  what  manner  the  selection  shaill 
be  made. 


458      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

6.  The  ordinary  meetings  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle  will 
be  held  quarterly  (once  in  each  of  the  four  provinces) 
and  of  the  Standing  Committee  weekly  (in  Dublin)  on 
stated  days.  A  special  meeting  of  these  bodies  can  be 
summoned  on  three  days'  notice  by  a  majority  of  the 
Standing  Committee  or  by  the  President  on  a  requisition 
signed  by  at  least  one-third  of  the  total  membership. 

One  of  the  quarterly  meetings  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle 
shall  be  its  annuaJl  meeting,  which  must  be  held  at  such 
a  time  as  will  allow  of  its  recommendations,  balance 
sheets,  reports,  etc.,  being  inserted  in  Ard-Fheis- 
Agenda. 

One-fourth  of  the  total  membership  of  these  bodies 
shall  constitute  a  quorum — except  for  routine  business. 

6.  The  Ard-Chomhairle  and  Standing  Committee 
shall  be  competent  to  settle  its  own  rules  of  procedure, 
which  shall  be  communicated  to  each  member 
immediately  he  or  she  is  adopted. 

7.  Members  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle  may  attend  and 
speak,  but  may  not  vote,  at  any  ordinary  meeting  of 
the  Standing  Committee.  They  shaill  have  the  same 
rights  as  regards  any  meeting  of  any  Cumainn  or 
Comhairle  within  the  organisation. 

8.  A  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  shall  be 
entitled  to  ask  for  and  to  examine  at  any  time  the  roll 
of  members,  the  minute  book  and  accounts  of  any 
Cumainn  or  Comhairfe.  Any  member  of  the  Ard- 
Chomhairle  shall,  if  appointed  by  the  Ard-Chomhairle 
to  represent  it,  have  the  same  rights. 

9.  A  member  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle  holding  a  public 
representative  position  shall  be  expelled  the  organisation 
if  the  Ard-Chomhaiple,  on  holding  an  inquiry,  decides 
by  a  two-thirds  majority  that  he  has  violated  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution  by  his  vote  or  other  public  actions. 

10.  No  member  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle  may  seek  or 
accept  for  himseilf  or  any  other  person  any  place  or 
position  at  the  disposal  of  the  British  Government 


APPENDIX  D.  459 

COMHAIBLI     CEANNTAIR. 

1.  Within  one  month  after  the  termination  of  the 
Ard-Fheia,  a  Convention  (Comhdhail)  shall  be  held  in 
each  Parliamentary  Constituency  to  eilect 

(a)  The  Constituency  Representative  on  the  Ard- 

Chomhairle  (Governing  Body) ; 

(b)  The  Officer  Board  (viz.,  President,  two  Vice- 

Presidents,  two  Hon.  Secretaries,  and  two 
Hon.  Treasurers)  for  the  Chomhairle  Ceanntair 
(Constituency  Executive) ;  and 

(c)  Its  Standing-  Committee. 
This  Convention  shall  consist  of 

(a)  The  Officer  Board  of  the  outgoing  Comhairle 

(Executive) ; 

(b)  Two  delegates  from  each  duly  affiliated  Cumann 

(Club)  within  the  Constituency. 

2.  The  new  Officer  Board  and  the  delegates  sent  by 
the  Clubs  shall  constitute  the  permanent  Comhairle 
Ceanntair  for  the  direction  and  government  of  the 
Organisation  within  the  Constituency.  It  shall  meet 
at  least  quarteriy,  and  shall  sanction  the  Reports,  the 
Lists  of  Cumainn  and  their  .membership,  Audited 
Balance  Sheets,  etc.,  for  transmission  to  Headquarters 
in  time  for  the  Quarterly  Meetings  of  the  Ard- 
Chomhairle. 

3.  Each  Comhairle  Ceanntair  may  co-opt  at  its 
discretion  not  more  than  five  members,  on  a  two-third 
vote  of  entire  membership.     Its  Standing  Committee 

/may  have  delegated  to  it  such  powers,  duties,  and 
functions  as  the  Comhairle  Ceanntair  may  determine, 
and  shall  meet  as  often  as  may  be  necessary. 

4.  In  forming  its  Standing  Committee  the 
advisability  of  having  a  representative  from  each 
County  Council  Electoral  District  should  be  considered. 

N.B. — Clubs  are  recommended  to  send  its  Secretary 
as  one  of  its  representatives  to  this  Comhdhail 
(Convention).     In  very  exceptional  circumstances,  on 


460      ADMINISTRATION    OF    IRELAND. 

special  application  to  Headquarters,  variations  of  the 
above  may  be  made  by  the  Ard-Chomhairie. 

CUMAINN. 

1.  Membership  of  the  Organisation  shall  be 
obtainable  only  through  membership  of  a  Cumann. 

2.  A  Cumann  shall,  as  far  as  possible,  be  established 
in  each  Chapel  District  in  rural  areas  and  in  every 
Ward  in  cities  or  towns. 

3.  A  Cumann  shall  consist  of  not  less  than  15 
members,  and  shall  be  directed  by  a  Committee 
composed  of  a  President,  Vice-President,  Secretary,  two 
Treasurers,  and  not  less  than  three  others  elected 
annually  by  the  members  of  the  Cumann. 

4.  Candidates  for  membership  must  be  proposed  and 
seconded  by  two  members,  and  their  nominations  be 
sent  to  the  Committee  of  the  Cumainn,  which  shall 
accept  or  reject  the  nomination  at  its  next  meeting. 

5.  Application  or  nomination  for  membership  of  a 
Cumann  shall  be  deemed  to  be  adoption  of  the 
objects  and  methods  of  the  Organisation  and  submission 
to  its  rules  for  the  time  being  in  force,  including  the 
rule  that  no  member  or  es-member  shall  have  any  right 
as  against  a  Club  or  against  any  of  its  members  or 
officers  in  respect  of  any  act  or  omission  done  in 
pursuance  of  its  rules. 

6.  The  membership  fee  shall  be  1/-  per  annum. 
Each  Cumann  shall  forward  monthly  one-fourth  of 

the  fees  thus  received  to  its  Comhairle  Ceanntair,  and 
the  remaining  three-fourths  to  the  Ard-Chomhairle. 

7.  In  addition  to  the  membership  fee,  a  Cumann 
shall  have  power  to  levy  on  its  members  such  further 
periodical  sum  or  sums  as  it  may  think  fit  or  find 
necessary,  provided  it  obtains  the  sanction  of  its 
Comhairle  Ceanntair. 

It  may  also  raise  funds  by  concerts,  etc.,  on  receiving 
a  similar  licence  from  the  Comhairle. 

8.  Every   Cumann   shall   keep,    in   strict   custody,   a 


APPENDIX  D.  461 

roll  of  its  members,  a  minute  book,  and  an  account  of 
its  receipts  and  expenditure. 

9.  Every  Cumann  shall  pay  an  annual  affiliation  fee 
of  £2  to  the  Hon.  Treasurers  of  the  Ard-Chomhairle. 

10.  The  Ard-Chomhairle  shall  have  power  to  refuse 
affiliation  of  any  Cumann  or  to  suspend  a  Cumann  by  a 
majority  vote,  or  to  expel  a  Cumann  by  a  two-third 
vote  of  the  members  present  at  any  regular  meeting. 

A  Cumann  shall  be  competent,  by  vote  of  an 
absolute  majority  of  its  members  present  at  a  meeting 
duly  convened  with  notice  of  the  business,  to  expel  any 
of  its  members,  or  supersede  any  of  its  officers  before 
expiry  of  his  normal  term,  for  adequate  cause,  subject 
to  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  Comhairle  Ceanntair  and  an 
ultimate  appeal  to  the  Ard-Chomhairle. 

All  charges  against  members  must  be  made  in 
writing ;  the  member  or  members  so  charged  shall  be 
notified  by  the  Secretary  to  appear  at  the  next  meeting 
of  the  Club  to  answer  said  charge  or  charges. 

11.  Any  difference  arising  within  a  Cumann,  or 
between  Cumainn,  which  the  body  or  bodies  concerned 
are  unable  to  settle,  shall  be  referred  to  and  settled  by 
the  Comhairle  Ceanntair. 

12.  Any  member  of  a  Cumann  holding  that  any 
particular  decision  of  the  Cumann  is  contrary  to  the 
principles,  objects  or  policy  of  the  Organisation  may 
require  a  statement  of  such  decision,  signed  by  the 
President,  Secretary  and  Objector,  to  be  sent  for 
consideration  to  the  Comhairle  Ceanntair.  Any 
matter  of  difference  arising  thus  or  otherwise  may, 
after  decision  by  the  Comhairle  Ceanntair,  be  submitted 
to  the  Ard-Chomhairle  for  ultimate  decision. 

13.  No  Cumann  shall  be  named  after  any  living 
person;  and  if  any  such  name  be  adopted  it  shall  be 
ignored. 

P.    Mahon,    Printer,    Yarnhall    Street,"   Dublin. 


INDEX. 


Act,  The  Arms,  188. 

,  Defence  of  the  Realm,  190 — 

194. 

,  Drummond's,  270,  294. 

,  Government  of  Ireland,  397, 

427—431,   App.   A. 
,     Restoration     of    Order     in 

Ireland,  411—414. 
Acts    concerning   Arms,    186 — 195. 

,Police,  269—273. 

Agricultural   Prosperity  in   Cork, 

45. 
Aimes,  Lieut.,  Murder  of,  155. 
Ambushes,  see  '  Outrages.' 

,  plans  for,  136. 

America,  see  *  United  States.' 
Anderson,     Sir     John,     becomes 

Under-Secretary,  86. 
An   TOglac,   8,   8n,   10,   132,   174, 

176,  179,  229,  275,  323. 
Arms  Act,  The,  188. 
Arms,  Importation  of,  by  National 

Volunteers,  2;  by  Ulster  Volun- 
teers, 1,  2. 
,  Legislation  concerning,  186 — 

195. 
,     Raids    for,     52,    196,    209-. 

methods   of,    199;    statistics   of, 

198. 

,  Surrender  of,  193. 

Arrests,  Table  of,  in  1920,  99. 

Ashbourne,  fight  at,  30. 

Aude,  sunk,  18n. 

Auxiliary     Division,    The,    281 — 

286;   Lord   French's  Speech  to, 

284;    Strength   of   in   1920,    145; 

in  January,  1921,  283. 


Baggally,  Captain,  Murder  of,  156. 
Balbriggan,     Outrage     and     Re- 
prisal at,  310—314. 
Ballycrovane  Coast  Guard  Station 

raided,  208. 
Ballymacelligott,  Outrage  at,  373 

—380. 
Baronies,  Irish,  271n. 
Barracks,  destruction  of,  228—230. 

,  raids  on,  203—206. 

Belfast,  rioting  in,  344—352;  Sinn 

Fein   activities  in,  341. 
Bell,   Mr.   Alan,   his  murder,   80, 

81,  223. 
Bennett,  Lieut.,  Murder  of,  155. 
Berry,  Kevin,  The  case  of,  138 — 

141. 
Black  and  Tans,  279. 
Bombs,    Sinn    Fein   manufacture 

of,  202. 
Boycott  of  Police,  130,  131,  137 
Brady,  Inspector,  Murder  of,  215 

—217,  304,  308—310. 
Breen,  Daniel,  142;  letter  to,  147. 
Brooke,  Mr.  F.  H.,  Murder  of,  224. 
Burke,  Sergt.,  Murder  of,  310. 

Cadets,  see  Auxiliary  Division. 
Casement,    Sir    Roger,    lands    at 

Banna,    16;    sent    to    London, 

tried,  and  executed,  17  and  17n; 

letter  to  Prof.   McNeill,  358. 
Cash  el,      the      Archbishop      of, 

denounces  conscription,   54. 
Castletownbeer       Coast       Guard 

Station  raided,  207. 


INDEX. 


463 


Cavalry,  Sinn  Fein  Instructions 
for  fighting,  134. 

Clabi,  Co.,  Condition  in  1918,  49; 
De  Valera  elected  for,  47;  In- 
timidation in,  50;  Sinn  Fein  in, 
47 — 48-  Sinn  Fein  growth  in, 
65. 

Clarenbridge  barracks  attacked, 
28. 

Clarke,  Sir  Ernest,  visits  Belfast, 
361. 

Clergy,  The  Roman  Catholic, 
their  adherence  to  Sinn  Fein, 
44,  49,  57;  they  denounce  con- 
scription, 53,  54. 

Cloughjordan,  Train  block  at,  245, 
256. 

Clvine,  Monsgr.,  426. 

Coast  Guard  Stations,  raids  on, 
206—208. 

Collins,  Michael,  141. 

Commission,  The  Labour  Party's, 
372—380. 

Conference,  A  Peace,  at  Dublin, 
119—128. 

Conscription,  denounced  by 
clergy,  53,  54;  by  R.  C. 
Hierarchy,  64;  fear  of,  in  Cork, 
52;  in  Kerry,  50,  51;  "  Measures 
for  Combating,"  58 — 62;  the 
Nationalists  against,  53;  Sinn 
Fein  influence  against,  53. 

Constabulary,  see  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary. 

Constabulary,  The  Special,  see 
"  Special  Constabulary." 

Cork,  Lord  Mayor  of,  (Mac- 
Curtain)  murdered,  79,  80;  is 
succeeded  by  McSwiney,  80 
(see  McSwiney). 

Cork,  Co.,  agricultural  prosperity 
of,  45;  declared  a  special 
military  area,  52;  raids  for 
arms  in,  52;  the  rebellion  in, 
31;  Sinn  Fein  in,  48,  49;  Sinn 
Fein  growth  in,  during  1919, 
66,  66,  67. 

Cosgrave,  W.  T.,  elected  for 
Kilkenny,  46. 

Court  Houses,  destruction  of,  227. 

Courts  Martial,  examples  of,  129 
—138;  table  of,  in  1920,  99. 

Courts,  Sinn  Fein,  90,  144. 

Craigavon,  Conference  at,  336. 

Creamery,  at  Tubbercurry,  burnt, 
306;  at  Achonry,  burnt,  306. 


Crimes,  table  for  1917,  1918  and 

1919,    62. 
Croke  Park,  affray  at,  157. 
Cumann  na  m'Ban,   182—184. 
Curfew  Order,   made  in  Dublin. 

74. 

Dail  Eireann,  Manifesto  concern- 
ing emigration,  177;  Mr. 
Lloyd  George's  refusal  to 
recognise,  420. 

Defence  of  the  Realm  Act,  190 
—194. 

De  Valera,  speaks  at  Kilkenny, 
46;  disloyal  speeches  by,  48;  is 
elected  for  East  Clare,  48;  is 
appointed  President  of  Sinn 
Fein  Convention,  391;  approves 
Dublin  massacre,  394. 

Dillon,  Mr.  John,  the  effect  of  his 
speeches,  45. 

Dillon's  Cross,  Outrage  at,  160. 

Dockers'  Strike  in  Dublin,  87,  88. 

Donkey,  Outrage  on,  235. 

Dowling,  Major,  Murder  of,  154. 

Drummond's  Act,  270,  294. 

Dublin  Castle  attacked,  23,  31. 

Dublin,  County,  the  Rebellion  in, 
29,  30;  situation  in,  during  1916, 
44. 

Dublin  Metropolitan  Police,  its 
formation,  294;  its  strength  in 
1920,  296. 

Dundalk,  Outrage  at,  350. 

Dunville,  Lieut.,  shot  by  Rebels, 
28. 

Dwyer,  Edward,  148. 

Emigration  discouraged  by   Sinn 

Fein,  177. 
Enniscorthy,  The  Rebels  take,  30. 
Ennistymon,    Outrage    at,    302 — 

307. 
Equipment,  Raids  for,  203. 

Fermoy,  Train  held  up  at,  258. 
Fianna  Eireann,  182,  185. 
Fitzgerald,   Captain,   Murder  of, 

150. 
French,  Lord,  His  speech  to  the 

police,  75—77;  to  the  Auxiliary 

Division,  284;  his  proclamation 

of  Martial  Law,  406. 

Gaelic  Athletic  Association : 
Members  join  the  Irish  Volun- 


464       ADMINISTRATION   OF    IRELAND. 


teers,  13,  14;  become  Sinn 
Fein,   50—51 

Gaelic  League,  joins  Sinn  Fein, 
50—51. 

Galway,  Co.,  The  Rebellion  in,  28, 
29;  condition  of,  in  1916,  45;  in 
1917,  49;  action  of  the  clergy  in, 
57;  Sinn  Fein  in,  57;  Sinn  Fein 
progress  in  1919,  64. 

Galway  County  Council  disavows 
Sinn  Fein,  145,  416—417;  Mr. 
Lloyd  George's  reply  to,  421— 
422. 

Galway,  University  College  at, 
becomes  Sinn  Fein,  49. 

Garniss,  Cadet,  Miirder  of,   152. 

Geddes,  Sir  E.,  attends  a  con- 
ference at   Dublin,  259. 

George,  Mr.  D.  Lloyd,  His 
speech  on  Sinn  Fein  Peace  Pro- 
posals, 415 — 426. 

Germany  and  Sinn  Fein,  357 
—361;  the  Aude  sunk,  18n  (see 
also  Casement). 

Glandore,  Training  Camp  at, 
raided,  67. 

Greenwood,  Sir  Hamar,  becomes 
Chief  Secretary,  81;  his  career, 
81,  82;  his  character,  82;  his 
speech  at  his  election,  83;  he 
releases  political  prisoners,  84, 
85;  inspects  R.I.C.  recruits  at 
Gormanstown,  280;  his  speech 
on  Reprisals  in  Parliament, 
311—315,  323;  ditto  to  R.I.C, 
315;  threatening  letter  from 
America,  371. 

Gun-running  by  National  Volun- 
teers, 2;  by  Ulster  Volunteers, 
1,  2. 

Henderson,  Mr.  A.,  His  Resolu- 
tion, 307n. 

Henry,  Professor,  His  book  on 
Sinn   Fein,  356,  388. 

Hibernians,  The  Ancient  Order 
of,  joins  Sinn  Fein,  50. 

Hobson,  Bulmer,  proposes  an 
insurrection,  14. 

Hook  Head  Lighthouse  raided, 
207. 

Hunger-Strikers  :  Death  of  Fitz- 
gerald and  Murphy  at  Cork, 
117 ;  fallacy  of  releasing,  100 — 
102;  official  statement  concern- 
ing  those   in    Cork    gaol,    114 — 


117;  the  '  President  of  the 
Republic  '  absolves  those  in 
Cork,  117. 
Hunger-Striking,  Treatment  of 
political  prisoners  who  are,  84; 
see  also  McSwiney,  Terence. 

Intimidation,  93,  94,  200,  275;  in 
Co.  Clare,  49,  50,  65,  66;  of 
railway-men,  245,  250—252,  411; 
murder  of  an  informer,  226. 

Irish  Bulletin,  The,  218. 

Irish  Republican  Army,  The  (see 
also  SINN  FEIN),  "  At  War  with 
Britain,"  175,  176;'  discourages 
emigration,  177;  effort  to  recruit 
for,  179;  its  foundation,  171; 
organization,  172—174;  raising 
funds,   181. 

Irish  Republican  Brotherhood, 
the.  Constitution  of,  163; 
declares  itself  sole  govern- 
ment of  the  Irish  Republic, 
167;  joins  Sinn  Fein,  50; 
members  join  the  Irish  Volun- 
teers, 12—14;  oath  of,  164,  167; 
procedure  at  meetings,  169; 
responsibility  for  outrage,  162 
(see  also  sinn  fein). 

Irish  Volunteer,  The,  8,  10  (see 
also  An  T'Oglac). 

Irish  Volunteers,  The  (see  also 
IRISH  republican  army)  ;  a  con- 
vention held,  9;  how  to  recruit 
for,  180;  Mr.  Redmond's  pledge 
for,  4;  orders  concerning  raids 
for  arms  by,  197;  they  proclaim 
a  Rebellion,  19 — 21;  progress  in 
1915  and  membership,  15;  rais- 
ing funds,  181 ;  their  influence 
in  1916,  44;  their  strength  at 
the  Rebellion,  11;  the  reply  of 
the  Provisional  Committee  to 
Mr.  Redmond's  pledge,  5 — 8; 
they  develop  into  the  I.R.A., 
11,  162,  171;  they  parade  in 
Rutland  Square  (April,  1916), 
16  (see  also  Oglaigh  na 
H'Eireann). 

Jacob's  Biscuit  Factory  garrisoned 
by  Rebels,  25;  surrenders,  40. 

Kerry,    Co.,    Recruiting    in,    45; 

Sinn  Fein  in,  50,  51. 
KiLDARE,    Co.,    Rebellion    in,    27; 

Sinn     Fein     set-back     in,     63; 

situation   in   during  1916,  44. 


INDEX. 


465 


Kilkenny,  Co.,  Cosgrave  elected 
for,  46;  Countess  Markievicz  at, 
46;  De  Valera  speaks  at,  46;  re- 
cruiting in  1916,  44;  Sinn  Fein 
aubs  in,  47. 

Kilmichael,  Outrage  at,  158—160. 

King's  Coitntt,  Sinn  Fein  in, 
44,  45,  55. 

Knockalong,  Outrage  at,  143. 

Labour  Party  Commission,  Re- 
port of,  372—380. 

Lahinch,  Outrage  at,  301—304, 
307. 

Lendrum,  Capt.,  Murder  of,  225. 

'  Liberty  Hall,'  Dublin,  taken,  38. 

Lighthouses,  Raids  on,  206. 

Lloyd  George,  Mr.  (see  George, 
Mr.   D.   Lloyd). 

Londonderry,   Rioting  in,  342. 

Louth,  Co.,  The  Rebellion  in,  28. 

Lucas,  General,  Reprisal  for 
kidnapping,  319. 

Lynch,  Mr.  P.,  defeated  at  East 
Clare  election,  48. 

McCormaek,  Captain,  Murder  of, 
156. 

MacCurtain,  Alderman,  His 
murder,  79,  80. 

MacDonagh,  Thomas,  signs 
Proclamation  of  Rebellion,  21; 
surrenders,  40. 

McLean,  Captain,  Murder  of, 
152. 

MacMahon,  The  Hon.  James, 
becomes  joint  Under-Secretary, 
86. 

McNeill,  John,  9,  11,  13,  14; 
presides  at  a  Convention  of 
Irish  Volunteers  in  the  Abbey 
Theatre,  Dublin,  9;  leader  of 
the  Sinn  Fein  party  of  National 
Volunteers,  11,  13;  strength  of 
his  party  in  Dublin,  14;  and 
in  the  provinces,  14;  presides  at 
a  meeting  and  votes  against  an 
insurrection,  14;  is  over-ruled  at 
Easter  Rebellion,  18;  appointed 
to  committee  of  Sinn  Fein,  391. 

Macpherson,  Mr.  Ian,  resigns,  81. 

Macready,  Sir  Nevil,  assumes 
command  of  forces  in  Ireland, 
86;  his  speech  to  police,  86n;.a 
proclamation  by,  406 — 409. 

Macroom,  Outrage  at.  158 — 160. 


McSwiney,  Terence,  becomes 
Mayor  of  Cork,  80;  his  arrest, 
102;  his  career,  103—104;  docu- 
ments found  in  his  possession, 
104 — 106;  is  court-martialled, 
106;  transferred  to  Brixton 
Gaol,  106;  Government's  reply 
to  appeals  for  his  release,  106 — 
108;  manifesto  by  his  relatives. 
109—113;  his  death,  113;  funeral, 
113,  114;  letter  concerning 
bombs,  201;  possible  connection 
with  Col.  Smyth's  murder,  220. 

Mahon,  Mr.,  Murder  of,  151. 

Mails,  Proclamation  concerning, 
233;  raids  on,  230—234. 

Mallow,  Attack  on  Barracks  at, 
205. 

Mannix,  Archbishop,  His  case, 
118—119. 

Markievicz,  Countess,  presented 
with  Freedom  of  Kilkenny,  46; 
Chief  of  Fianna,  185;  her  letter 
concerning  unemployment,  290. 

Martial  Law,  proclaimed  in 
Dublin,  27;  in  all  Ireland,  27; 
the  use  of,  404 — 406;  proclama- 
tion of,  406. 

Maxwell,  Sir  John,  arrives  in 
Dublin,  38—39. 

Mayo,  Co.,  Sinn  Fein  in,  56. 

Meath,  Co.,  Sinn  Fein  in,  56; 
Sinn  Fein  set-back  in,  63. 

Metropolitan  Police,  see  Dublin 
Metropolitan  Police. 

Milltown  Malbay,  Outrage  at,  301 
—304. 

Mizen  Head  Lighthouse  raided, 
207. 

Montgomery,  Col.,  Murder  of,  155. 

Morning  Post,  comment  on 
Countess  Markievicz,  291;  on 
R.I.C.,  273. 

Morris,  Cadet,  Murder  of,  152. 

Moyode  Castle,  The  Rebels  at,  29. 

Mulherne,  Sergeant,  Murder  of, 
219. 

National  Volunteers,  The,  Gun- 
running  by,  2;  membership  in 
Dublin  in  1916,  44;  numbers 
recruited  for  army,  12;  strength 
of,  1;  they  split  into  three,  11; 
their  strength  at  Rebellion,  11; 
they  join  Sinn  Fein,  63. 

Newbury,  Capt.,  Murder  of,  153. 

EE 


466       ADMINISTRATION   OF   IRELAND. 


O'Connell,  John,  letter  about  him 
to  McSwiney,  146. 

O'Connor,  Lord  Justice :  His 
charge  to  Grand  Jury,  76,  77. 

O'Flanagan,  Father,  418,  424,  426. 

Oglaigh  na  H'Eireann  (see 
also  Irish  Volunteers),  197; 
circular  letter  concerning  police 
forces,  286;  general  order  of,  276. 

Orange  Lodges,  Manifesto  by  the, 
328. 

Oranmore  barracks  attacked,  28. 

Outrages  (for  attacks  on  in- 
dividuals see  under  proper 
names;  see  also  under  '  Mails, 
Raids  on') ;  classification  of,  212 
statistics  of  on  civilians,  223 
ditto  on  Military  Forces,  220, 
ditto  on  police,  212;  ditto  on 
police  returning  from  Mass, 
235 — 237;  outrages  on  women, 
234;  ditto  on  donkey,  235;  table 
of  in  1919.  93;  table  of  those 
attributed  to  Sinn  Fein,  72; 
totals  for  second  six  months  of 
1920,  97. 

At  Balbriggan,  31(^314; 
Ballymacelligott,  373  —  380; 
Ballyvourney,  221;  near  Borri- 
soleigh,  213;  Broadford,  213; 
Dillon's  Cross,  160;  Drimo- 
league,  214;  Dublin,  150;  Dun- 
dalk,  350;  Dunmanway,  222- 
Ennistymon,  301—304,  307;  near 
Golding's  Cross,  213;  Kil- 
michael,  158—160;  Knockalong 
143;  Lahinch,  301—304,  307, 
Leitrim,  214;  Macroom,  158— 
160;  Monk's  Bakery,  138- 
O'Brien's  Bridge,  213;  Queens- 
town,  320;  Rushbrooke,  147 
Solo  Head  Beg,  142;  Thurles 
318;  Tuam,  319;  Tubbercnrrv 
215—217,  304,  308—310;  Tullow 
320;  near  Waterville,  214. 

Peace  Conference  at  Dublin,  119— 
128;  its  constituents,  123;  resolu- 
tions, 124. 

Peace   Preservation   Act   of   1856 

187;  of  1870,  188. 
Peace  Preservation  Force,  268. 
Pearse,  P.  H.,  signs  Proclamation 

of  Rebellion,  21;  becomes  Com- 


mander in  Chief  of  I.R.A.,  22; 

surrenders,   40. 
Petrol,  Raids  for,  258. 
Police,   Dublin  Metropolitan,  see 

"  DUBLIN    METROPOLITAN    POLICE." 

Police  Forces,  Acts  concerning, 
268—273. 

Medal,  86n. 

,  the  Irish,  see  "  royal  irish 

CONSTABULARY." 

Political  Prisoners,  The  question 
of,  83,  84;  hunger-striking  by, 
84;  they  are  liberated,  85;  their 
status  defined,  85. 

Post  Office,  Dublin,  Raid  on,  231. 

Price,  Captain,  Murder  of,  155. 

Prime  Minister,  see  George,  Mr. 
D.  Lloyd. 

Queen's  County,  The  Rebellion 
in,  27;  recruiting  in,  47;  Sinn 
Fein  in,  47. 

Queenstown,  Outrage  at,  320. 

Raids  on  mails,  230 — 234;  procla- 
mation concerning,  233;  on  rail- 
way stations,  252,  253. 

Railway-men,  Irish,  Dismissal  of, 
254,  257;  intimidation  of,  244— 
252;  outrages  on,  250—252; 
proclamation  by  Union  of,  265 
— 267;  refusal  to  convey  troops, 
245—248;  refusal  to  handle 
munitions,  87;  unpersuaded  by 
Sinn  Fein,  145. 

Railway  Stations,  Raids  on,  262, 
253. 

Railway  Strike,  The  Irish,  87 — 
90;  policy  of  Railway  Com- 
panies, 254;  report  on,  255 — 
257. 

Railways,  Description  of  Irish, 
249;  situation  at  end  of  1920, 
260—265,  268;  stoppages  on, 
245—258. 

Rebellion,  The  Easter  (1916), 
heralded  by  a  proclamation,  19; 
begins,  21;  its  progress  in  the 
country,  27 — 31;  its  total 
casualties,  41 ;  and  cost,  41 — 42. 

Recruiting  in  Ireland,  figures  for 
in  1915,  12;  the  campaign 
against,  12 — 13;  in  Kerry  during 
1919,  45;  in  Kildare  during  1916, 
44;  in  Kilkenny,  44;  in  Queen's 
County,  47. 


INDEX. 


467 


Bed  Hand  Magazine,  The,  398. 

Redmond,  Cmsr.,  murdered,  71. 

Redmond,  John,  gives  a  pledge 
for  Irish  Volunteers,  4;  issues 
a  manifesto  on  outbreak  of  war, 
4;  his  pledge  denounced  by  Pro- 
visional Committee,  5 — 9;  leader 
of  the  National  Volunteers,  11; 
strength  of  his  followers  up  to 
the  Rebellion,  11  (see  national 
volunteers);  is  protected  by 
patrols,  47. 

Regulations,  see  "  Acts." 

Reprisals,  Sir  H.  Greenwood's 
speech  on,  in  Parliament,  311 — 
315,  323;  ditto  to  R.I.C.,  315; 
order  from  Dublin  Castle  on, 
316;  refutation  of  alleged,  31&— 
325;  Sinn  Fein  propaganda  on, 
317 — 325;  Sinn  Fein  reports  on, 
370;  statistics  for  1919,  369. 

At  Abbeyfeale,  322;  Balbrig- 
gan,  310—314;  Ennistymon,  301 
—304;  Fermoy,  319;  Galway, 
321;  Inniscarra,  320;  Kildorrery, 
319;  Lahinch,  301—304.  307; 
Limerick,  318;  Milltown  Malbay, 
301—304;  Naas,  320;  Queens- 
town,  320;  Shanagolden,  319; 
Thurles,  318;  Tipperary,  319; 
Tuam,  319;  Tubbercurry,  304— 
306,  308—310 ;  TuUow,  320. 

Republican  Army,  The  Irish,  see 

IRISH     REPUBLICAN    ARMY. 

Republican       Brotherhood,       see 

IRISH  REPUBLICAN  BROTHERHOOD. 

Ronan,  Lord  Justice,  His  charge 
to  Grand  Jury,  77,  78. 

Royal  Irish  Constabulary, 
acquires  the  title  '  Royal,'  274 ; 
Acts  constituting,  268—273 ; 
auxiliary  division  of,  see 
auxiliary  division;  boycott  of, 
130,  131,  137,  276;  daily  life  of, 
289;  difficulty  in  clothing,  278; 
increase  in  strength,  145; 
intimidation  of,  276 — 277;  plans 
for  attacking,  136;  recruiting 
for,  277;  strength  in  1920,  145, 
278. 

Rushbrooke,  Outrage  at,   147. 

Sabotage,  Examples  of,  263,  254. 
Secretary,  The  Chief,  see  Green- 
wood, Sir  Hamar. 


Shaw,  Gen.  Sir  F.  Proclamation 
by,  192. 

Sherwood  Foresters,  The,  casual- 
ties in,  37. 

Sinn  Fein,  Activities  in  Belfast, 
341,  398,  399;  clubs,  47,  58,  68; 
collections  made,  53;  conscrip- 
tion, movement  against,  53; 
'ditto,  "  Measures  for  Combat- 
ing," 58 — 62;  constitution  of, 
12,  389—392;  Convention  in 
Dublin,  389;  courts  established 
by,  90 — 92,  144;  elections, 
success  at,  48,  70 ;  discourages 
emigration,  177;  funds  of,  54; 
relations  with  Germany,  18, 
357—361  (see  also  Casement); 
Government  of  Ireland  Act, 
their  position  under,  429 — 4'jl; 
growth  of,  11,  13,  48,  56,  56, 
341,  398—399;  hunger-strikers, 
responsibility  for  deaths  of, 
117;  intimidation  of  railway- 
men  by,  244—262;  leaders, 
effect  of  arresting,  54,  55;  local 
authorities  unpersuaded  by, 
145;  Londonderry,  progress  in, 
341;  meaning  of  name,  392; 
membership,  in  1915,  14,  47; 
in  1917  and  1918,  58;  in  1919,  68; 
murder  campaign,  failure  of, 
144,  149;  responsibility  for,  94, 
96,  393—394;  objects  of,  390—392; 
pamphlet  issued  by,  389;  their 
peace  proposals,  418;  Mr.  Lloyd 
George's  reply  thereto,  418 — 426; 
their  policy,  395—399;  political 
parties  absorbed  by,  50 — 52; 
press  captured  by,  50;  procla- 
mations by,  402;  railway-men 
intimidated  by,  244—252;  their 
order  to  ditto,  250;  outrages  on, 
250 — 252;  are  unpersuaded  by, 
145;  refusal  of  Government  to 
recognise,  400 — 403;  their  rise 
from  National  Voliinteers,  11, 
13,  •48,  55.  56,  341,  398—399; 
their  strength,  11,  13,  48,  65, 
56,  341,  398—399;  Ulster  activi- 
ties of,  341,  398,  399;  their 
weakening,  63,  149. 
Smith,  Mr.  T.  H.,  Murder  of,  152. 
Smyth,  Col.,  Murder  of,  218. 
Smyth,  Major,  Murder  of,  220. 


468       ADMINISTRATION  OF   IRELAND. 


Solicitors,  Sinn  Fein  instructions 

concerning,  133. 
Solo  Head  Beg,  outrage,  142. 
Special  Constabulary,  The,  296. 
Strickland,  Gen.,  Attack  on,  242. 

Thurles,  anti-conscription  meet- 
ing at,  54;  outrage  at,  318. 

Thyra,  8.S.,  raided,  197. 

TippERARY,  Co.,  Increase  of  Crime 
in,  67;  the  Town  Hall  burnt, 
147. 

Tracy,  John,  143. 

Tralee,  an  attempt  to  murder  at, 
53. 

Troops  in  Ireland,  Government 
statement  concerning,  238; 
discipline  of,  241,  242;  their 
duties,  240 — 244;  number  in 
Dublin  at  Rebellion,  31  et  seq. 

Tuam,  Outrage  at,  319. 

Tubbercurry,  Outrage  at,  215 — 
217,  304,  308—310;  reprisal  at, 
304—306. 

Tudor,  General,  appointed  Police 
Adviser,  86. 

Tullow,  Outrage  at,  320. 

Ulster  (see  also  Belfast,  London- 
derry), conference  at  Craig- 
avon,  336;  Covenant  by,  331; 
definition  of,  326;  population  of, 
326;  Sinn  Fein  activities  in, 
388,    399;    Solemn    League    in. 


331;  Unionist  Clubs  in,  333,  342; 
Unionist  Council  of,  328. 

Ulster  Volunteers,  The,  Disloy- 
alty shown  by,  3;  enlistment  in 
Army  by,  4,  12;  gun-running 
by,  1 — 2;  organization  of  corps, 
336—338;  statistics  of,  333—335; 
strength  of,  2,  4,  335,  339. 

United  Irish  League,  joins  Sinn 
Fein,  50. 

United  States  of  America,  Con- 
vention held  at  New  York,  364; 
"  Friends  of  Irish  Freedom," 
364;  Irish  propaganda  in,  363— 
370;  Irish  question  a  political 
one  in,  362,  372;  maintains 
relations  with  Germany,  364, 
365;  money  received  from,  15. 

Veteran  Corps  Ambushed,  26. 
Viceroy,  The,  see  French,   Lord. 
Volunteer,  The  Irish,  8,  10. 
Volunteers,     see     Irish     Volun- 
teers, National  Volunteers. 

Waterville,  Outrage  near,  214. 
Weekly  Summary,  The,  293. 
Westmeath,  Co.,  Sinn  Fein  in,  47. 
Wexford,  Co.,  Rebellion  in,  30. 
White,  Captain,  Murder  of,  221. 
Wicklow,  Co.,  Mr.   Redmond  in, 

47. 
Wilde,  Lieut..  Murder  of,  156. 


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